Law enforcement memorial planned for Monday evening
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May 7—TUPELO — After taking 2020 off because of the coronavirus pandemic, Tupelo will host a ceremony Monday as part of National Law Enforcement Memorial Week.
The Northeast Mississippi Law Enforcement Memorial Service, hosted by the Tupelo Police Department, will begin at 6 p.m. outside the theater at the Elvis Presley Birthplace.
The memorial service was started two decades ago by John Harmon after his son, Casey Harmon, was shot and killed while working as a jailer at the Lee County Juvenile Detention Center in March 1998.
Monroe County Sheriff Kevin Crook will be the speaker at the event, which will include the playing of Taps, the reading of the names of the area's officers who have been killed in the line of duty, and a candlelight vigil.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy established May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day. The week around that day is National Police Week. The Mississippi Chiefs of Police will host their annual fallen officer candlelight vigil at the State Capitol Mall in downtown Jackson on Tuesday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m.
The national memorial will be held Thursday night at 7 p.m. with a virtual candlelight vigil that will be livestreamed on social media by the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Foundation. The event will include the reading of the names of 395 fallen officers, 295 of which died in 2020.
