We Remember Because They Served: A Reflection on National Police Week

REFLECTION  |  WE ARE STRONG ENOUGH

By Sheronda D. Grant  |  May 2026

I attended Police Week in Washington D.C. this week and my heart is still heavy.

Hearts were and are heavy. Watching the families and friends of fallen officers mourn their loved ones — standing there as names were read — I held my own tears in. The grief in that space was real. It was not something you can prepare for, no matter how many years you have worn a badge. No matter how many times you attend the ceremony. The pain is real.

The Candlelight Vigil

The Candlelight Vigil was difficult in a way that is hard to put into words.

Officers' names were read state by state. After each state, a gong rang out. That sound — deliberate, resonant, final — settled into the crowd like a weight. More than 350 names were read that night. Not only the names of officers who died in the line of duty in 2025, but also the names of officers from previous years whose names would now be added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall. Names that had been waiting. Families who had been waiting.

Each name represented a person. A career. A family permanently changed. And that gong, ringing after every state, made sure you felt every single one.

Heavy rain fell down from Heaven as we held our candle lights in honor of the fallen. Perhaps God cried alongside the officers' loved ones.

We stood in that rain. Candles in hand.

Six Since 2018

I wish I could say this was my first time attending Police Week for personal reasons. But I cannot say that.

My agency lost two officers in the line of duty in 2018 — the first line of duty deaths since 1996. And then we lost another. And another. And then another. And in 2025 another.

Six since 2018.

Six names and six families that had to keep going after burying their loved one. That is a heavy weight that does not get lighter, but as a leader you just learn to carry it differently.

For Those Still Serving

This profession is not for the faint of heart and it has never been. It demands something from you every single day — not just physically, but in ways that are harder to name and harder to measure.

That is why I have nothing but the deepest respect for every officer who shows up and does their best to make a difference in their community, seen and unseen, on the days it feels worth it and on the days it does not.

Your service matters and you matter.

To the Families

To the families and friends of our fallen officers — the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice — please know that you are not forgotten.

The names on that wall are not statistics. They are not numbers in an annual report. They are people who answered the same call every officer answers, but who gave everything in response to it. The tears that fell in Washington D.C. this week — from fellow officers, from strangers, from the rain itself — were for them.

My sincerest condolences to each family who has lived this loss. We carry your loved ones with us.

Sheronda D. Grant is a 24-year law enforcement veteran, leadership development trainer, and founder of We Are Strong Enough — a career excellence platform for women in law enforcement. She serves as a WI DOJ contractor delivering leadership training across Wisconsin and has personally mentored 40+ officers to promotion at every rank.

wearestrongenough.com