The Forty First Annual Annual Oklahoma Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Service will be conducted on Friday, May 8, 2009, at 10 A.M. The Service will be conducted at the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial, located on the West grounds of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety (DPS) Headquarters, 3600 North M. L. King Avenue in Oklahoma City.
Directions: From I-35, take the 36th Street exit (Exit 131). Go west approximately ¾ mile to the entrance to DPS on the south side (left hand side) of the street. This will be directly across the street from the 45th Infantry Division Museum’s out door display of various types of military vehicles.
Go south to the large parking lot on the west side (right hand side) of the driveway. The DPS Building is located on the west side of this parking lot. After parking, you may then enter the DPS Building through the glass doors facing the parking lot near the south end of the building and walk down the stairs to the lower floor or you may walk around the building by way of the north drive way. There will be no parking on the west side of the DPS building.
All exposed law enforcement officer’s badges should be covered with a black ribbon for this service which should last approximately one hour.
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The Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial Board of Directors has established guidelines for honoring a fallen officer in Oklahoma. It is our hope that all law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma will adopt these guidelines as a way of honoring any law enforcement officer who dies in the line of duty in Oklahoma.
First, remember
there is only one day of the year when all flags are to be flown at half staff
by federal law (US Code, Title 4, Subsection 7m). That day is National Peace
Officers Memorial Day, May 15th.
When any law
enforcement officer dies in the line of duty in Oklahoma, all flags across the
state should be lowered to half staff and remain at half staff until sundown the
day of the fallen officer’s funeral.
All law enforcement officers in Oklahoma should wear a black badge ribbon (mourning ribbon) across their exposed badges during this same period as a sign of honoring and mourning the fallen brother/sister law enforcement officer in our state.
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Badge Ribbon
Traditionally law enforcement officers wear a black ribbon across their badges during a time of mourning or during memorial services. Normally when a law enforcement officer dies the badge ribbon is worn from the time of the officer's death until sundown the day of the officer's funeral.
Oklahoma law enforcement officers have their own badge ribbon to wear at these times of mourning. The ribbon is made of ¾ inch black elastic embroidered in blue thread with the Choctaw tribal words “AIALHTO IMANUKFILA“ which roughly translate to “In Memory”. Oklahoma is from the Choctaw tribal language meaning “land of the red man.”
The Oklahoma Badge Ribbon may be ordered through the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial for $3 each plus postage and handling. Contact us at OKLEMEMORIAL@aol.com to place an order. Ordering in bulk will save on postage and handling.
Please contact us if you have any questions.