For National Police Week, the Denver Police Department held a ceremony Thursday to recognize the 77 officers in its history who have died in the line of duty. Department officials marked the occasion on a sunny morning, in a brief respite before afternoon rain, with a 21-gun salute, a release of white doves, a “roll call” of the fallen officers’ names and speeches by city leaders.

“That’s 77 members of our police family who we carry with us as we continue to serve,” said Police Chief Ron Thomas.

The ceremony had a few dozen public officials in attendance, including Mayor Michael Hancock, city councilmembers, Director of Public Safety Armando Saldate and District Attorney Beth McCann. The department’s current class of recruit officers also attended.

Celena Hollis was the last Denver police officer killed, in June 2012, when she tried to break up a fight at a jazz concert in City Park. Other officers killed in the department’s history include Richie Rose, allegedly murdered in 1922 by the city’s mob because he would not take bribes, and Willie Steam in 1921, Denver’s first Black officer killed in the line of duty. Steam was killed by a person involved in an illegal card game police had just broken up.

The deaths of police officers killed on duty have roiled other Front Range departments in the past three years. Boulder Officer Eric Talley was killed in 2021’s mass shooting in the city’s south-side King Soopers.

Arvada has lost two officers recently: A man killed Officer Gordon Beesley in Olde Town in June 2021, before a bystander killed the shooter. Officer Dillon Vakoff died trying to break up a family dispute last September, and his accused killer’s criminal case is pending.

A memorial outside the Denver Police Department administration building has the names of the department’s fallen officers carved in. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day through a proclamation and the whole corresponding week as National Police Week.

“It’s not how they died that makes them heroes. It’s how they lived and their choice to serve,” Hancock said. “They chose to make a true and positive difference in our community knowing the inherent dangers they would encounter, and they still chose to step up for a community that needed them.”