National Police Week, May 13-19

The following post is a joint effort by Jennifer Davis and Betty Lupinacci.

This week memorializes National Police Week, when law enforcement officers honor their colleagues who have died in service. May 15 was first proclaimed Peace Officers Memorial Day by President Kennedy in 1962. There is a series of events surrounding the day—a memorial run, a bike ride, a candlelight vigil for fallen officers and police K-9s, and events for family survivors. Now is a good time to pause and remember service and sacrifice that is generally taken for granted.

Law libraries and law enforcement inevitably intersect. In addition to their equipment and the laptops fixed in their patrol cars, many law enforcement officers have police handbooks, copies of the state code and motor vehicle law. Betty’s brother, a Pennsylvania law enforcement officer, knew his Pennsylvania borough’s code cold. Jennifer’s dad, a retired Maryland and federal law enforcement officer, used to quote the Maryland Vehicle Code and portions of the Annotated Code of Maryland from memory, the way other people quote poetry or baseball stats. Police handbooks, criminal, motor vehicle, and state codes like the ones the Law Library collects are the most important part of a peace officer’s gear. The mission of law enforcement officers is to uphold the law so that citizens are safe and justice can be carried out in the courts, and these handbooks and codes are the tools they use to do it.