By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–For many cities across the state and across cities nationwide, the week beginning May 10 symbolized the start of National Police Week to honor and recognize law enforcement officers’ current service to their communities or who were killed in the line of duty.

A Mayoral Proclamation was created by the city of Helena on May 10, and Helena Mayor Mark Hall was proud to recognize law enforcement officials for the week.

“I am proud to have issued this Mayoral Proclamation recognizing National Police Week in the City of Helena,” said Hall. “I am very concerned about the safety and well being for all our law enforcement officials during these increasingly dangerous and controversial times. I feel very strongly that we should make every effort to show our support and appreciation to all our officers for the often times difficult and dangerous job they do for us day in and day out, making our cities and communities as safe and secure as possible.”

Some of the highlights of the proclamation included stats and figures about law enforcement officials and plans for the week.

Nearly 60,000 assaults against law enforcement officers are reported each year, resulting in approximately 16,000 injuries according to the proclamation.

The proclamation also states that the service and sacrifice of all officers killed in the line of duty will be honored during the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s 27^th annual Candlelight Vigil on the evening of May 13.

Helena Lt. Brad Flynn also described the plans for Friday, May 15.

“We will lower the city flag to half staff and we’ll have officers out there to do a short memorial,” said Flynn. “We haven’t had any officers killed in the line of duty, but we’ll do something to honor the service and the memory of those who we’ve lost in neighboring departments.”

A figure that stands out on the proclamation is 20,000. The proclamation read that since the first recorded death in 1791, more than 20,000 law enforcement officers in the United States have made the ultimate sacrifice and been killed in the line of duty.