By Leslie N. Dees
CNHI
KOSCIUSKO —
Kosciusko Police Officer Joseph A. Fulton was honored during National Police Week festivities in Washington, D.C. May 13-15. Fulton died while on duty Nov. 8, as the result of a heart attack.
And his widow, Karen, traveled to D.C. along with the widows of the other two Mississippi officers, Mississippi Highway Patrol’s Steve Hood and Warren County Deputy Tom Wilson, that died in the line of duty in 2009.
Karen said the names of 324 law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty — 116 of them during 2009 — were formally dedicated on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial’s 22nd annual Candlelight Vigil on Thursday evening at the Memorial grounds.
Seeing her husband’s name on the memorial was very hard.
“I cried for about an hour,” she said. “I still cry about it when I think about it now. It was a great honor.”
U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. led the lighting of candles and reading of the fallen officers’ names.
There were candles as far as you could see in the crowd of about 20,000 people, she said.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also participated in the annual tribute to officers who have died in the line of duty.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Service was held on Saturday, May 15, on the lawn of the U.S. Capital, where President Barack Obama was among the speakers.
She said she doesn’t know when she will be that close to a U.S. president again and she was also able to capture a photo.
“It was really exciting to be that close to the president,” she said.
Roll call was completed for the 116 fallen officers for 2009 and a flower placed in memory of each officer by their families. The officers who died in 2009 was the lowest law enforcement fatality total since 1959.
In addition, 208 officers who died in previous years but whose deaths had been lost to history were added to the Memorial this year. The monument in Judiciary Square now contains the names of 18,983 law enforcement officers who have died in law enforcement service throughout U.S. history from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and federal law enforcement and military police agencies
