Woodlawn police detective Kevin Sorrells gives his 1-year-old daughter Kehley a kiss as they attend the annual police memorial observance on Fountain Square Tuesday afternoon. Photos by GLENN HARTONG/The Cincinnati Enquirer

Police officers from city, suburban, county and state agencies and the Cincinnati police 96th recruit class salute during the annual police memorial observance and march.

Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati was filled with hundreds of Greater Cincinnati police officers and people who came to support them Tuesday.

The city marked National Police Memorial Day with a ceremony and parade to the police memorial across from police headquarters in the West End. The crowd, which nearly filled the square, was bigger than last year's, fulfilling a goal of Fraternal Order of

Police President Sgt. Harry Roberts, who wanted more participation from suburban departments. Officers, many with their spouses and children, came from across the Tristate, from Miami Township and Springdale to Bellevue, Ky., and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Mayor Charlie Luken told the crowd he hoped Tuesday's appreciation of law enforcement continued and would quell criticism. Luken said it's getting more dangerous every day for officers in Cincinnati: In the last two months, officers have been shot at no fewer than six times.

One girl supported her dad, a Cincinnati undercover drug officer, with a T-shirt: "My pop's a cop.''