Texas Border Business
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
As the names of fallen law enforcement officers are read aloud in solemn gatherings for National Police Week, the FBI paused to honor its law enforcement partners and remember two of its own who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“It’s an important time to honor the extraordinary courage and commitment of our brothers and sisters in law enforcement and to recognize those who have laid down their lives protecting the communities they served,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a video commemorating Police Week.
The annual observance dates to 1962 when President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation designating May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which the date falls as Police Week.
In his brief time as Director, Patel said, he has called police chiefs and sheriffs when their departments have lost an officer in adversarial action in the line of duty.
“Although I’ve been in this position for less than three months, I’ve already made far too many of those calls,” Patel said.
Earlier this week, Director Patel led a memorial service at FBI Headquarters as the names of a special agent and an evidence technician were added to the FBI’s Wall of Honor to recognize their sacrifices.
Special Agent Donald Kleber and evidence technician Melica Sanders both supported rescue and recovery efforts in New York following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Kleber worked at Ground Zero sorting through debris from the fallen towers of the World Trade Center. Sanders deployed to the Fresh Kills Landfill where she sifted through crime scene materials collecting and documenting evidence. Both developed illnesses after exposure to carcinogens and died as a result.
“Sadly, far too many who made the ultimate sacrifice have been our own FBI colleagues,” Patel said in a May 12 message to FBI personnel. “They were our friends and colleagues, and their legacy of courage and commitment to duty inspires all of us.”
The inherent dangers of law enforcement and public safety work were front and center early this week when the FBI issued a report on the number of law enforcement officers killed and assaulted in the line of duty.
Last year, 64 officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty; another 85,730 were assaulted, according to the “Officers Killed and Assaulted in the Line of Duty, 2024 Special Report.” The annual report, compiled by the Bureau’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, is based on data voluntarily provided by law enforcement agencies to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report Program.
