WASHINGTON -- The names of Ronald D. Jeter and Daniel J. Pope, two Cincinnati police officers killed in the line of duty in December, were added Friday to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
"Memorials like this ensure that their memories never die," District of Columbia Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said of Spc. Jeter and Officer Pope and eight other officers whose names were added in a special ceremony.
The names of the officers were added to panel 53E, Line 20, joining 14,600 officers whose names have been engraved on the memorial since it was dedicated in 1991.
Officer Pope, 35, and Spc. Jeter, 34, were mortally wounded Dec. 5 while serving felony domestic violence warrants at the apartment of Alonzo Davenport, 20.
Mr. Davenport fled the scene and committed suicide a few blocks away.
Police from Cincinnati, along with Linda Pope, Officer Pope's widow, will be among about a dozen people who will travel to Washington next month to participate in National Police Week. They will attend a candlelight vigil May 13 at Judiciary Square for a reading of the names newly engraved on the memorial.
"Every time we add a name to the memorial, we are reminded that law enforcement is the most dangerous profession in the world today," Craig W. Floyd, chairman of the memorial, said Friday.
"There is simply no other job in the world that requires a person to carry a gun, wear a bulletproof vest and confront armed and dangerous criminals during the course of a normal workday."
Last year, 160 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty. An average 161 police officers have died in the line of duty nationwide in the last 10 years, Mr. Floyd said.
