COMMENTARY
POLICING is still mourning the loss of a much-loved colleague even as I take up my new job.
PC Keith Palmer’s death makes us appreciate the fragility of the thin blue line protecting the public – but also its strength.
A major campaign is being launched to raise funds for a UK Police Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
The NMA is where the nation honours our services personnel killed in the line of duty for their country. It is home to more than 330 armed forces memorials.
No comparable tribute exists for our police service. That is why I and my colleagues in the Metropolitan Police are supporting the UK Police Memorial campaign and I urge you to do the same.
Last week I with thousands of colleagues from across the police service said a final goodbye to Keith. It was a sad first day as commissioner but one that made me proud. What marked this out from other service funerals that I have attended was the swathe of blue-and-green uniforms that adorned the streets around Southwark Cathedral. Not only had Keith been a police officer for 15 years, but he had also served in the armed forces. How fitting then that all those who had served alongside him should come together to pay tribute. A few days later I visited the site of PC Yvonne Fletcher’s murder for the 33rd anniversary of her death. She was shot outside London’s Libyan embassy. After that film director and producer Michael Winner established the Winner Memorials to be sited at locations where officers had been killed. As I stood by her memorial in St James’s Square I reflected on how the Metropolitan Police Service has changed. She and I were of that same generation of officers. What would Yvonne have achieved in policing if she had lived?
Those of us left behind have the luxury of growing old, yet Keith and Yvonne, and many others, were denied their tomorrows. It is immensely important that we never forget those who have paid with their lives to keep us safe.
Not only will the UK Police Memorial at the NMA be a place for quiet reflection and contemplation, it will be a place where the nation can come together to honour all those officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
A place where we can dignify each death, celebrate each life, remember each loss but also acknowledge these losses collectively and in doing so honour both the fallen and those who continue to serve.