Resolution 2007-3, Supports the Badge of Honor Memorial Foundation.

WHEREAS, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, works to insure that the officers that serve in their agencies are properly trained to perform their duties, to do so with professionalism and competence and to return home safely to their families at the end of a shift, and;

WHEREAS, since the first recorded police death in 1792, more than 17,000 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty and a total of 1649 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years (an average of one death every 53.5 hours or 164 per year), and;

WHEREAS, surviving family members are overwhelmed with the prospect of navigating a technically complex and legally daunting benefits process in the days immediately following the loss of a loved one, and;

WHEREAS, the Badge of Honor Memorial Foundation is a national non-profit 501(c) 3 organization formed to provide assistance to the families and departments of police officers and other public safety officers who lose their lives in the line of duty, and;

WHEREAS, the Badge of Honor Memorial Foundation helps departments prepare a Casualty Assistance Plan in advance of the loss of an officer, actively assists the family members of fallen officers to obtain all the statutory benefits available to them and provides each family coping with their loss with a memorial statue to serve as a lasting symbol of recognition for the life of service the officer courageously gave.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Florida Police Chiefs Association supports The Badge of Honor Memorial Foundation and its mission to prepare law enforcement leaders and agencies for the loss of an officer killed in the line of duty.

PASSED AND ADOPTED this 10th day of April, 2007 by the Board of Directors of the Florida Police Chiefs Association.