Over 100 members of law enforcement agencies throughout Central Louisiana gathered at the Rapides parish courthouse on May 15 in order to commemorate the men and women who gave their lives in service to their fellow citizens. 

The moving ceremony included a 21-gun salute, Taps, a caparisoned horse, a lowering of the flag to half-mast and a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace. Alexandria Mayor Jaques Roy delivered the Keynote address. In a poignant reminder of the cost of protecting our communities’ safety, a roll call of the 36 members of local law enforcement who lost their lives in the line of duty from 1897 to the present day was conducted with men and women from various departments answering for them. 

This annual ceremony ensures that the memory of the men and women whose lives were taken from us all to soon does not fade away. It is part and parcel of what Sir Winston Churchill called “the long continuity of our institutions.”