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Date: 11/30/2022
SPRINGFIELD – About 30 people gathered at the Springfield Police Department Headquarters on Nov. 16 for the annual observation of Project Blue Light and for the introduction of a new monument honoring those police officers who have given their lives while on duty.
The new Fallen Officer Monument was donated to the city through funds raised by the “Light Up the Blue” 25-mile bike ride and 5K run.
As Mayor Domenic Sarno and Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood unveiled the monument, the lights at the top of the Monarch building downtown changed to solid blue.
Clapprood said of the officers whose names were engraved on the monument, “It’s important that we remember them.”
She noted that policing is “a difficult profession now …it takes a little bit of courage to answer every call.”
Mayor Domenic Sarno said he was honored “to stand with the brave men and women of the Springfield Police Department and their families.”
According to information supplied by the department, “Project Blue Light is a nationwide recognition of those police officers who have died in the line of duty. It began in 1988 when the surviving mother-in-law of a Philadelphia police officer killed in the line of duty told Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.) that she would put two blue lights in her window to remember her son-in-law and her daughter who was killed in a car crash. ‘Project Blue Light’ now burns bright in the hearts of nearly 15,000 surviving families of American’s fallen law enforcement officers.”
In a press release, the department asked residents to place a blue light bulb on the porch or in a candle in their window to show their appreciation for police officers this holiday season.