Dozens of law enforcement officers from across the state and their families gathered in Augusta Tuesday to honor those killed in the line of duty.

The names of 88 troopers, wardens, deputies and officers are carved in granite on the memorial just steps away from the State House.

With no line of duty deaths last year, no new names were added.

“We appreciate the opportunity to remind the rest of this nation how honorable, noble and necessary this profession is and occasionally how dangerous it can be,” Chief Charles Rumsey of the Cumberland Police Department said. “It’s a relief this year that we are not adding a name to the memorial.”

But across the country, 246 officers died in 2022, which includes 60 by gunfire and 14 by “vehicular assaults,” Rumsey said. He noted that deaths by heart attack are likely underreported and that the totals do not include suicide.

Among those who marched in the procession were 46 new officers who will officially complete their training on Friday, Rumsey said.

“These daughters, sons, fathers and mothers understand full well the dangers and demands of serving as today’s law enforcement professionals, yet they are undeterred,” said Rumsey, who is president of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association.

(Above: Cadets who are nearly finished with their training at the police academy marched in the procession for the Maine Law Enforcement Officers Service on Tuesday. (Susan Cover/Spectrum News)


Gov. Janet Mills recalled several of those who have died in the line of duty, a list that begins in 1811. She mentioned those who died trying to save the lives of others, an officer who died in a plane crash and one who was shot and killed in 1884 while trying to arrest a suspect.

A former district attorney and attorney general, Mills said Maine’s safe streets are a reminder of the legacy of those lost.

“These souls whose lives were abbreviated by fate, lost to duty, to circumstance, to misfortune or to malice,” she said. “Their lives dedicated to the rule of law.”

Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck reminded the new officers to take care of themselves both physically and mentally.

“Watch your heart, watch your soul, take care of yourself as human beings,” he said. “Be proud of who you are and what you do. Never, ever let a split-second decision step in the way of your morals, that compass that makes you who you are.”