White doves ascended toward the Denver skyline as “Amazing Grace” played on bagpipes, honoring the 77 officers who have fallen during the Denver Police Department’s history.

The Denver Police Department held their annual memorial ceremony outside of the department’s headquarters on Thursday, remembering all of the officers who had lost their lives while on duty or while employed by the police force. 

“Today, we gather with our Denver Police Department family in reverence of our fallen officers’ sacrifice,” Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said to a crowd of current officers and family members of those fallen. “The sacrifice that left families without sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters.”

While no officers have passed in the department since Ofc. Robert Sandoval was shot and died during a burglary call in 2020, the ceremony continued to honor the 77 officers who have been killed in the line of duty since the department opened in 1859.

All of the names are etched in a memorial stone outside of the headquarters, surrounded by the state and national flag.

The ceremony came toward the end of National Police Week, a week of dedication and ceremonies for fallen officers officially proclaimed by President John F. Kennedy in 1962. 

All local departments held similar ceremonies during the week, honoring the past officers and the 136 federal, state, county, municipal, military, tribal and campus officers nationally who were killed in the line of duty during 2023. That’s a 39% decrease from 2022, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. 

“Please know your loved ones, our brothers and sisters, did not die in vain,” Thomas said to the family members. “They stared down danger, and knowing the risk, remained steadfast in the face of those dangers.”

The honor and pride stretched far and wide, not just focusing on recent officer deaths.

For example, Richard Colcord Griffiths and his daughter, Regina Griffiths, came out from northern California to Denver to celebrate their relative, William E. Griffiths, who passed away in 1899.

Griffiths had chased after a suspect who shot and killed another officer, Thomas Clifford. Griffiths was also shot and killed in the same incident.

The Denver Police Museum contacted Richard Colcord Griffiths after running genealogy connecting him to the fallen officer. Then, Griffiths came out to show his respect for his long-lost relative.

“This is an opportunity to celebrate the life and what he did and to recognize all of the others who have fallen. As a memorial, this is a good thing. A great thing, in fact,” Griffiths said.

Even 125 years later, Griffiths was proud that the department and museum have never forgotten. 

To Griffith, police backgrounds run even closer than a relative from 125 years ago. His father was a provost shore patrol officer in Samoa and his grandfather was a police officer in San Diego. 

“The service of those who run toward danger,” he said of why police work is important to him. “It’s the heart and the valor of the men and women who do that. That’s what’s impressive.”