Springfield Police honor fallen officers at Memorial Ceremony

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Springfield Police Department hosted its annual Memorial Ceremony Friday evening.

It honors the lives of seventeen police officers who died in the line of duty. The ceremony was held outside the department at the Fallen Officer Memorial where Mayor Domenic Sarno and Police Chief Lawrence Akers both gave a speech.

Akers told 22News the importance of honoring these officers, “We think about the people that came before us, sometimes, we don’t think about the trials and tribulations that they went through, especially when they paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

Sarno also told 22News that we live in an age where police officers are demonized and the public needs to remember that when they are running away from a situation, first responders are the ones running towards it.

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22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts in March 1953. Watch the 22News digital edition on weekdays at 4 p.m.

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