Former cops say it’s a good time to honor the fallen men and women who’ve served.
May 15th is designated as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that day falls is National Police Week.
"President Kennedy enacted the law that created National Police Week and I think it's very important to remember the survivors. The people that these officers left behind," says Former President of the Houston Police Officers Union Gary Blankenship.
On Monday Fort Bend County will be holding a peace officers memorial service in front of the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office where sixteen fallen officers dating back to 1843 will be honored.
And Erin Aldridge with the Concerns of Police Survivors says families experiencing the loss of a police officer go through major struggle.
"Obviously when anyone dies in your family it is a big shock and there's a void left in that and we end up with a lot of single parents," says Aldridge.
For the second straight year law enforcement fatalities nationwide rose sharply with 173 federal state and local officers killed in 2011. 13 of which were killed in Texas, a state which typically leads the nation in police deaths.
