Between the pandemic and an uptick in violence, 2021 was an especially deadly year for police officers.
Now, work is ongoing in the District to honor each one of the fallen heroes.
Tim Johnston is one of two people working to engrave the officers’ names into the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. He’s nearing the end of adding 619 names this time.
“The amount of names that went in year is just unbelievable,” he said. “My heart goes out to everybody that I do this for.”
He admits the process can get to him at times. “Every one of these names has a story and has a life behind it,” he said.
Of the total names being added, 472 names of the names are from 2021 — the most ever to be added to the memorial’s walls from one year. Overall, 319 of the deaths were COVID-19-related.
Bill Alexander, the memorial’s executive director, said the number of names added marks an uptick from previous years. “And it’s continued to increase over the last several years, in part due to COVID, but also due in part to increasingly dangerous conditions for officers out on the street,” he said.
With the additions, there will be 23,229 officers’ names engraved on the memorial.
