Rs 50 crore earmarked in Budget for building a befitting National Police Memorial

A part of National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington

THE new government’s maiden budget presented on Thursday set aside a sum of Rs 50 crore in the current financial year for building a befitting National Police Memorial. “The nation is equally indebted to the officers and the jawans of the Police forces, including the central armed police forces, who are constantly engaging with the enemy within and in the process sacrificing their lives in the line of duty,” finance minister Arun Jaitley said in his budget speech. In fact, National Police Memorial located in central London commemorates about 4000 police officers killed on duty, whereas in Washington’s Judiciary Square lies the…
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial honouring 20,267 US law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty throughout history. UK’s National Police Memorial was unveiled in 2005. In UK, it all began in 1984, when film director Michael Winner founded the Police Memorial Trust following the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher. The trust first erected smaller monuments at the points where officers had died on duty. According to Wikipedia report, Trust then lobbied and raised funds for a single, larger scale memorial to commemorate all police officers who had died in the course of their duties.
Winner himself donated 500,000 pounds to the campaign for a national memorial, but the total cost was about 2.3 million pound which could be met by small donations from a large section of people. Westminster City Council granted planning permission only in October 2002. Some residents criticised it because of its the high cost.
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington was established by former US Representative Mario Biaggi, a New York City police veteran who was wounded in the line of duty over 10 times. The Memorial features four bronze lions--two male and two female—each watching over a pair of lion cubs, according to Wiki report. Below each lion, there are various quotations, one of which says: “It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived”.