FOP memorial starts Law Enforcement Appreciation Week

Service set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday in West Chester

WEST CHESTER >> In advance of national Law Enforcement Appreciation Week, the Chester County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #11 will be holding its annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service on Thursday, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Lodge home at 218 N. Church St., West Chester. The pubic is invited.

This year’s speakers include State FOP President Les Neri, county District Attorney Tom Hogan, Chief Gerald Simpson from Southern Chester County Regional Police, and the Reverend Jack Crans.

Last week, Hogan and other members of the law enforcement community appeared at the county commissioners meeting, at which a proclamation was read honoring the county’s police officers.

“Law enforcement is lucky to be here in Chester County,” said Hogan in brief remarks following the issuance of the proclamation. “And Chester County is lucky to have its law enforcement here” where the government and political leadership support and invests in the police community.

“Our citizens know that our police not only respects, but likes and enjoys the people they protect,” Hogan said.

The appreciation week, which the commissioners urged residents to commemorate by wearing or displaying a blue ribbon, will begin May 14 and run until May 20.

“One of the community’s most important resources are the brave, devoted men and women who serve as police officers and who willingly dedicate their lives to securing a safe society for all,” the county’s proclamation reads. “The community’s law enforcement officers have long sustained a tradition of the highest quality performance, providing a better life for others.”

While county law enforcement personnel count themselves fortunate not to have a “line of duty” death in the county in 2016, the FOP noted that nationally 144 police officers lost their lives, four in Pennsylvania.

They were: Luzerne County Corrections Officer Kristopher Moss; state Corrections Officer David Weaver; Cannonsburg Police Officer Scott Bashioum; and state Trooper Landon Weaver. Additionally two K-9 Officers were killed: K-9 Aren of the Port Authority of Allegheny County Police Department, and K-9 Totti, state Department of Corrections.

FRAN MAYE - DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA West Goshen Police Chief Joseph Gleason speaks about how important police work is during the Chester County Law Enforcement Memorial Service last year.