They deserve our support every day of the year, but each May, it’s especially time to “Back the Blue.”

In honor of National Police Week, which includes National Peace Officers’ Memorial Day May 15, the state of Kansas will be hosting its annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony in Topeka on Friday. 

As a prelude, a candlelight vigil will take place Thursday night in the First Floor Rotunda of the Statehouse at 8 p.m. A candle-lighting ceremony, sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary No. 3, will follow the vigil.

The annual Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony begins at noon Friday at the Kansas Statehouse, Second Floor Rotunda. A wreath-laying ceremony will follow at the Kansas Law Enforcement Monument, which is on the northeast quadrant of the Statehouse grounds.

In 2023, the names of 556 officers killed in the line of duty were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. These 556 officers include 224 officers who were killed during 2022. An additional 332 officers died in previous years. Many of their stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now. There are currently 23,785 names engraved on the Memorial.

Four names have been added to the Kansas Law Enforcement Monument this year. They include: police officer David Leroy Ingle, Iola; sheriff’s deputy Stacy Annette Murrow, Linn County; sheriff’s deputy Robert Price Craft, Marion County; and Sidnee Taylor Carter, Sedgwick County.

Locally, no special ceremonies have been planned, although Great Bend Police Chief Steve Haulmark noted there may be a departmental hot dog and hamburger fry for officers on Friday.

Similarly, Larned Police Chief Chuck Orth, whose department is short-staffed, noted that his officers will be out on patrol. “We just won’t have that luxury for a ceremony,” Orth said.

In the meantime, officers of the Kansas Highway Patrol will join COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) for Project Blue Ribbon. COPS is a national non-profit organization for the families of officers lost in the line of duty. As part of Project Blue Ribbon, the Patrol will be tying blue ribbons to agency-owned vehicles, and encouraging civilians to do the same, to serve as a reminder of the many officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. It also honors those officers who are working every day, putting their lives on the line. A limited supply of the official COPS ribbons is available at local KHP troop headquarters; however, any 18-inch strip of royal blue ribbon will show support, the KHP said.