Peace Officers Memorial

Yesterday wasn’t the day to commit a crime in Sacramento. It was the annual Peace Officer’s Memorial Ceremony where the names of all the police officers, sheriffs, and park rangers in California who have fallen in the line-of-duty this year are added to the memorial. Committing a crime anywhere else in California, yes. The fuzz were all here. Hundreds of police officers converge on Sacramento once a year for this ceremony. I happen to work in a building where they drive by one side and park down the other. You can feel when the parade of motorcycles and police cars comes by. The whole building vibrates. I wish I had had my camera. I used the one on my phone. The lines of parked motorcycles went on for about two blocks.
These cars are parked right outside my building. You can't really tell from the photo, but they were parked four and five deep for about three blocks, and most of them arrived with at least two officers in them. That is a lot of officers.The Keystone Cops also apparently made it, although we only saw their car.There were a few police dogs...and...
This is why I look forward to this event every year. Seventy-five police horses from all over the state. It's very impressive. The photos don't do it justice.
They form the back row listening to the ceremony. When we walked by the names of the 19 officers killed this year were being announced to the sound of bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. I got all choked up. While I love seeing the horses, wouldn't it be nice if we could have some years where there was no reason for the ceremony?