Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin
and The Capitol Gift Shop are pleased to present...
The 2017 Capitol Christmas Ornament
Featuring the the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at the Arkansas State Capitol
Click below to order yours!
History of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Officers Memorial:
In 1985, the
75th Arkansas General Assembly approved a measure, introduced by State
Representative Art Givens, authorizing a Capitol monument honoring Arkansas’s
law enforcement officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty. Act 964 created a committee made up of
representatives of law enforcement agencies, professional associations and the
Secretary of State’s office, which would select a design and site for the
memorial, develop criteria for inclusion and solicit and accept funds for its
construction.
The project
began in earnest in 1987 with announcement of a statewide design competition
and fund-raising events. Several sites
were considered, including the mall due north of the Capitol, the east
promenade and within the Rotunda. Fund
raising proved slow, however, and the project remained stalled for several
years.
In 1993, the
project was revived. A site due south of
the Capitol was approved by the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission and an
elegant, straightforward design was created by architect Chris Dimon of Burt
Taggart & Associates. Ground was
broken on October 23, 1993 and the monument took shape speedily, aided by many
firms supplying expertise and materials either as in-kind contributions or at
cost.
The completed
monument was dedicated one year later, on October 23, 1994. It consists of a circular concrete plaza with
a flagpole at its center. It is surrounded to the north by a boxwood hedge and
to the south by a semicircle of 29 precast concrete plinths. Twenty-eight of them bear black marble
plaques upon which are engraved the names of Arkansas peace officers who have
died in the line of duty. One, located
at the middle of the semicircle, bears an elegiac poem composed by Anita Layne
Riley, widow of one whose
name is found on the marble tablets.
When the monument was
dedicated, it bore 149 names; as of 2017, those remembered stands at 229. The names are given without rank or
indication of affiliation, reminding visitors that all officers were and remain equal--comrades in
vocation, sacrifice, and memory.
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