MIAMI (WSVN) - A touching tribute was held for fallen police officers in Miami-Dade.
Fellow officers and families who lost loved ones gathered at the 40th Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial Ceremony at Tropical Park, Thursday night.
For some, this year’s tribute was particularly meaningful.
“The memorial is not just a memorial, it’s not just an erected memorial, it means a day that we all come together and we share the same grief,” said widow Barbie Vargas Dezayas. “We share the same pain. This is the first year I bring my grandson, to bring another generation to see that their grandfather died in the line of duty, but he’s not forgotten.”
“I know that the survivors, the families that were left behind, they needed to see us,” said Miami-Dade Police Director Freddie Ramirez. “We weren’t going to let a pandemic or weather or anything stop us from connecting with our survivor family.”
As of 2020, 151 Miami-Dade Police officers have died on duty since the department’s inception.
The month of May is designated as the national month to remember law enforcement officers in the United States.
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