Today, November 30th, is GivingTuesday. Created in 2012, Giving Tuesday encourages people all over the world to do good. Today, hundreds of millions of people give, collaborate and celebrate generosity.
The DC Police Memorial & Museum encourages you to participate in this special day by donating to our project to appropriately honor the officers of the DC MPD who have died in the line of duty. We will renovate the existing crumbling memorial fountain and create a beautiful memorial wall inscribed with their names in a park-like setting near police headquarters.
Our retired police officers and others are speaking out in support of the project and asking you to do the same (see the series).
Retired MPD Detective Neil Trugman remembers the officers and their families who sacrificed so deeply for our city.
Watch below.
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO
Hello. I’m Neil Trugman. In July of 1973, just 3 months after I turned 20 years old, I left Brooklyn, New York and was sworn in as a DC police officer and became one of our nation’s finest. I retired as a Detective Grade 1 in summer of 2000 and stayed four more years as a civilian law enforcement intelligence coordinator.
I was a member of the team that investigated several line-of-duty deaths to include that of 1st District Officer Jason E. White and the murders at police headquarters of Detective Sergeant Henry “Hank” Daly, FBI agents Martha Dixon and Michael Miller, and, sadly, way too many others.
In my total of 31 years of service with the MPD, there were 30 members of the department killed in the line. I recently retired as Chief of Police for the Amtrak Police Department, which is a national police department. As the Chief of Amtrak Police, I traveled the country and had the occasion of visiting many law enforcement agencies. I would always take time to visit each of their memorials honoring their officers that were killed in the line of duty.
I remember a spouse of one of the DC Police officers that were killed in the line of duty coming up to me at a memorial service and saying, “Promise me that we will never forget his ultimate sacrifice.”
I also remember a mother telling me such happy stories of her son, killed in the line of duty, and how his favorite holiday was Thanksgiving. It was such an honor for my family and myself, along with so many others, to call her “Ma Gibson“.
The Metropolitan Police Department District of Columbia needs to have its own memorial to honor all the members of MPDC that made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting the citizens of the District of Columbia.
The DC Police Memorial and Museum will renovate the current crumbling memorial fountain and build a new wall inscribed with the names of those who have died in the line of duty. We will also re-establish a museum to preserve MPD artificats and the rich history of the department and the legacy of its officers.
Won’t you help us?
Rendering of the new Memorial Wall to be built by the DC Police Memorial and Museum.