[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 21 (Monday, May 24, 2004)]
[Pages 909-911]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
 Remarks at the Peace Officers Memorial Service

 May 15, 2004

     Thank you all very much. I'm so very honored to join all of you in 
paying respects--our respects to our Nation's fallen law enforcement 
officers. Every year on this day, we pause to remember the sacrifice and 
faithful services of officers lost in the line of duty throughout our 
Nation's history. And we add to the National Law Enforcement Officers 
Memorial the names of men and women lost in the past year as well as 
some who fell in the line of duty in other times.

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 They accepted the hard responsibilities of a great and essential 
calling.
     Our fallen officers died in service to justice and in defense of 
the innocent. They will never be forgotten by their comrades. They will 
never be forgotten by their country. And today, in the presence of so 
many families and friends they loved, our Nation pays tribute in pride 
and in gratitude.
     I appreciate Chuck Canterbury's leadership and his friendship. I 
also want to thank Aliza Clark. I appreciate Jim Pasco as the executive 
director of the Fraternal Order of the Police, who has worked hard to 
make this a special event for those who grieve.
     I want to thank my friend the Attorney General, John Ashcroft. He's 
doing a great job on behalf of the American people. I appreciate FBI 
Director Mueller, other members of my administration. I want to thank 
Duke Cunningham and other Members of Congress who have joined us.
     I also thank all the family members who have come to Washington for 
this service. For each of you, there is a name on the National Law 
Enforcement Officers Memorial that will always stand apart. You feel the 
hurt and loss and separation, but I hope you don't feel alone. A lot of 
people are praying for you, and you can know today that our Nation will 
always remember the one you loved.
     They were among the more than 800,000 men and women who serve as 
officers of the law in the United States. On the wall are the names of 
U.S. marshals and county sheriffs, deputies, State patrolmen, municipal 
police, Federal agents, Coast Guard officials and others who are in the 
business of protecting their fellow citizens. America's men and women in 
law enforcement carry different responsibilities and serve different 
jurisdictions. Yet in all of those jobs, we look for the same basic 
qualities of character, for personal discipline, alertness of mind, and 
courage. Our country and our neighborhoods depend on such people, and 
fortunately for us all, they keep coming forward.
     We look for people like Sergeant Jason Pratt of the Omaha Police 
Department. He was shot last September at the age of 30, while helping a 
fellow officer pursue a suspect. A colleague said of Sergeant Pratt, 
``He was always willing to step up and take the point.'' And when he 
died, more than 20 police officers were at the hospital with him. As the 
mayor of the city put it, ``Omaha lost one of its protectors, but his 
family lost much more.'' These same words are true in every community, 
every time an officer of the law is taken from us.
     When the innocent need defending, we look for people like Trooper 
Nik Green of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, who was shot and killed by a 
drug dealer resisting arrest. He died on the morning after Christmas on 
a stretch of highway just over a mile from his home, where he left 
behind a wife and three young daughters. This good man was also a youth 
pastor at First Baptist Church, where hundreds of his fellow State 
Troopers came to pay their final respects. The pastor said of Trooper 
Green, ``He set a standard that we're left challenged by. We're going to 
hurt for a long, long time.''
     To bring help in desperate hours, we look for people like Patrick 
Hardesty of the Tucson Police Department. He was shot and killed by a 
fleeing suspect in a hit and run. Officer Hardesty had seen danger 
before, during his 20 years as a United States Marine. He is survived by 
his wife, their three children, and comrades who say they thought of him 
more as a brother than a friend. A colleague said of Officer Hardesty, 
``Even before he became a good cop, he was a really good man.''
     These are the characteristics we honor today, really good men. 
These officers and the others we recognize at this service reported to 
work not knowing that the day would bring the end of their watch. In the 
words of a colleague of one fallen officer, ``We all take it for granted 
that they will come back home safe and sound after their shift. Then one 
day, they don't.'' That is a part of the heroism of law enforcement, 
knowing that the most routine calls can turn suddenly violent. In the 
worst of moments, that is the heroism that faces danger and risks all 
for the safety of strangers. And in every moment, our country is in debt 
to the men and women in patrol cars, on bikes, and on foot, and standing 
post, and we must never take them for granted.
     The nearness to danger inspires a special loyalty among those who 
carry a shield and

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enforce the law. And when one is lost, the family left behind is cared 
for and held close by the brotherhood of law enforcement. In the 
Memorial and in countless acts of love and kindness, the fallen are 
remembered and honored. And this afternoon on behalf of all Americans, I 
offer the respect of a grateful nation. Their calling in life was to 
keep the peace, and we pray they have found the peace in the almighty 
God.
     May God bless you all.

  Note:  The President spoke at 12:46 p.m. on the West Grounds at the 
U.S. Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to Chuck Canterbury, national 
president, and James O. Pasco, Jr., executive director, National 
Fraternal Order of Police; and Aliza Clark, president, National 
Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary.