BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — In memory of police officers who have been hurt, harmed or killed in the line of duty, police departments across the nation lowered their flags to half-staff.
According to Boston Police Department, which had its flag lowered on Friday morning, the history and origination of Peace Officers Memorial Day has local ties.
"On October 1, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 designating May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day in honor of those Federal, State and Municipal Police Officers who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty," said BPD in a statement.
Decades after Kennedy signed the Memorial Day into law, it grew into National Police Week, an annual series of events which usually attracts thousands of survivors and law enforcement officers to Washington D.C. However, due to coronavirus, those events have been canceled this year.
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