LAPD honors 239 fallen officers at downtown ceremony

A day after Memorial Day, the Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday honored the 239 LAPD officers who have died in the line of duty since the department was established in 1869.

"To the officers of the LAPD and your families, thank you for your daily sacrifices and for your dedication to serving our community," Mayor Karen Bass said during the ceremony outside the department's headquarters. "Your commitment and bravery will never go unnoticed."

The ceremony included traditional police honors, including a roll call of the fallen, a rider-less horse, a rifle volley, a "missing man" formation helicopter flyover, bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace," a solo bugler playing "Taps" and an "End of Watch Broadcast."

Of the fallen officers being honored, LAPD Interim Chief Dominic Choi said, "Their courage and dedication will forever be etched in our history and in the hearts of all who knew them."

Tuesday's ceremony also included a performance by the LAPD Choir, comprised of sworn and civilian LAPD employees.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, family members and partners of fallen officers placed long-stem roses near their loved ones' name plates on the Memorial Wall, which displays the badge of each of the fallen.

During last year's ceremony, then-Chief Michel Moore noted that the wall expresses that "This organization will remain committed to each individual to ensure that we all know (the) sacrifice of these men and women as well as the sacrifice -- the day-in, day-out sacrifice -- of those that they left behind."

Moore last year also noted that, of the 239 fallen, 62 had occurred since he joined the force in 1981, including 12 during his tenure as chief. Moore served as chief from 2018 until his retirement this February.

He said the Memorial Wall honors the fallen "for their selfless actions, their commitment to justice and the sacrifice to protect others from evil no matter the cost."

"Their sacrifice will not be in vain and we will never forget them or what they stood for," Moore said.

"To each family member of these fallen, you will forever remain in our heart, a part of our family, a part of what makes this great city great, which is this department's work each day in the communities across the city."