Bush Takes Part in Dedication of Memorial for Slain Officers

U.S. Marshal Robert Forsyth was shot to death while serving an arrest warrant in Georgia on Jan. 11, 1794.

James McKnight, a policeman in West Sacramento, Calif., was killed in a shoot-out on June 16, 1990.

Forsyth was the first to die and McKnight one of the most recent among 12,561 law enforcement officers whose names are engraved on the walls of a memorial dedicated here Tuesday.

“They gave much and asked little,” President Bush said in remarks at the dedication ceremony. “They deserve our remembrance.”

For 24 hours, beginning Monday afternoon and ending with the dedication ceremony, 160 volunteers representing every state took turns mounting a platform and reading the fallen officers’ names aloud.

Jim Scutt, a spokesman for the sponsoring National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, said more than 10,000 people were in Washington for the event.

They included state, local and tribal law enforcement professionals, officials and survivors of some of the officers who have died in the line of duty. Fifty-nine of the names belong to women.

California has the largest number of fallen officers, 1,094.

The names go only through 1990. Names of officers killed in 1991 will be added next year, spokesman Steve Ellis said.

Craig W. Floyd, chairman of the fund, said the memorial was built with private donations and will eventually be maintained by the Park Service. He said that the organization is still trying to raise $1.5 million to permit upkeep and the addition of names.