[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 31461-31463]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10664]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 95 / Wednesday, May 17, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 31461]]


                Proclamation 10579 of May 12, 2023

                
Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Every day when law enforcement officers pin on their 
                badges, they make an extraordinary commitment to the 
                American people: to rush toward danger regardless of 
                the risk and to faithfully stand up for the rule of 
                law. Across our neighborhoods, towns, and cities, they 
                put themselves in harm's way, hoping to return home 
                safely to their families. On Peace Officers Memorial 
                Day and during Police Week, we celebrate the remarkable 
                courage of our law enforcement community and honor the 
                fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice to 
                protect their fellow Americans.

                As a Nation, we expect a lot from our law enforcement 
                officers. They save lives by keeping our roads, 
                subways, and highways safe and responding to domestic 
                violence incidents and natural disasters. We ask them 
                to ensure public safety, build trust within our 
                neighborhoods, and protect the well-being of our 
                communities. Too often, they are also called upon to 
                respond to mass shootings, drug overdoses, mental 
                health crises, and more. Being a law enforcement 
                officer is not just what they do; it is who they are.

                The same is true for their families, who sacrifice 
                alongside these heroic Americans. It takes a special 
                person to marry or be the child of a law enforcement 
                officer--knowing the uncertainty as their loved one 
                walks out the door and dreading the possibility of 
                receiving that phone call.

                No memorial can ever fill the void left in the hearts 
                of those who have lost a loved one in the line of duty. 
                But their sacrifices in full service to their 
                communities and to our Nation will never be forgotten. 
                We will continue to honor their memories with actions 
                that help keep our law enforcement officers and 
                communities safe from harm.

                When I took office at the height of the pandemic, 
                State, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement 
                budgets were shrinking. Some agencies were facing their 
                lowest staffing levels in decades, undermining their 
                ability to perform their jobs. That is why we provided 
                crucial funding to help police departments build new 
                training facilities, recruit new personnel, and give 
                officers a raise. I also expanded benefits for first 
                responders who were disabled in the line of duty and 
                their families. And I signed laws improving officer 
                wellness by expanding critical mental health resources 
                to address the physical and emotional trauma that so 
                many members of our law enforcement community 
                experience.

                Meanwhile, I have taken steps to keep law enforcement 
                officers safer on the job by signing the most sweeping 
                gun safety law in nearly three decades. It helps keep 
                more guns out of the hands of dangerous people, 
                including by broadening restrictions on domestic 
                abusers, which is critical because domestic violence 
                calls can often turn deadly for police. This law also 
                supports crisis interventions, including extreme risk 
                protection orders, and provides a billion dollars to 
                address the mental health crisis in America. We are 
                also strengthening background checks for 18 to 20-year-
                olds trying to purchase guns, helping prosecutors crack 
                down on illegal gun sales, and reining in ghost guns 
                that police across the country are increasingly finding 
                at crime scenes.

[[Page 31462]]

                As I have often said, when it comes to keeping our 
                communities safe, the answer is not to defund the 
                police. It is to fund them with the resources and 
                training they need to protect and serve our communities 
                and to build trust with the American public. My Safer 
                America Plan calls on the Congress to invest in 
                recruiting, hiring, and training more than 100,000 
                additional officers for effective, accountable 
                community policing, consistent with the standards of my 
                policing Executive Order. My plan also invests in 
                programs that send social workers and other 
                professionals to respond to calls that should not be 
                the responsibility of law enforcement. And it invests 
                $5 billion in proven crime-prevention strategies like 
                community violence interruption. We must not accept the 
                false choice between public safety and public trust; 
                they are two sides of the same coin.

                At the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, 
                D.C., there is a quote engraved on the wall that reads, 
                ``It is not how these officers died that made them 
                heroes, it is how they lived.'' Today, during this 
                week, and year-round, we express our gratitude for the 
                courageous women and men of our Nation's law 
                enforcement community. We honor the memory of the 
                members who made the ultimate sacrifice and pray for 
                their families. And we recommit ourselves to the sacred 
                task of creating a safer and more just Nation for all 
                Americans.

                By a joint resolution approved October 1, 1962, as 
                amended (76 Stat. 676), and by Public Law 103-322, as 
                amended (36 U.S.C. 136-137), the President has been 
                authorized and requested to designate May 15 of each 
                year as ``Peace Officers Memorial Day'' and the week in 
                which it falls as ``Police Week.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 
                15, 2023, as Peace Officers Memorial Day and May 14 
                through May 20, 2023, as Police Week. I call upon all 
                Americans to observe these events with appropriate 
                ceremonies and activities and salute our Nation's brave 
                law enforcement officers and remember their peace 
                officer brothers and sisters who have given their last 
                full measure of devotion in the line of duty. I also 
                call on the Governors of the United States and its 
                Territories, and appropriate officials of all units of 
                government, to direct that the flag be flown at half-
                staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day. I further 
                encourage all Americans to display the flag at half-
                staff from their homes and businesses on that day.

[[Page 31463]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2023-10664
Filed 5-16-23; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P