A day after Memorial Day, the Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday will hold a ceremony to honor the 239 LAPD officers who have died in the line of duty since the department was established in 1869.
Tuesday's 9 a.m. memorial ceremony will take place in the courtyard of LAPD headquarters in downtown L.A. and include Mayor Karen Bass and Interim Chief Dominic Choi, along with other elected officials, members of the Police Commission and family members of fallen officers.
The program will feature traditional police honors, including a roll call of the fallen, a rider-less horse, a rifle volley, the "missing man" formation helicopter flyover, bagpipers playing "Amazing Grace," a solo bugler playing "Taps" and an "End of Watch Broadcast."
"This morning we gather to remember the sacrifice of our 239 police officers who gave their lives serving the city of Los Angeles and their country," Choi -- then an assistant chief -- said during last year's memorial ceremony.
"Earlier, our LAPD pipes and drums led ... the ceremony procession, followed by the rider-less horse," Choi added. "The rider-less horse is a simple horse without a rider with the boots reversed in the stirrups, symbolizing the police officer who would ride no more."
Tuesday's ceremony will also include a performance by the LAPD Choir, comprised of sworn and civilian LAPD employees.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, family members and partners of fallen officers will place long-stem roses near their loved ones' name plates on the Memorial Wall, which displays the badge of each of the fallen.
During last year's ceremony, then-Chief Michel Moore noted that the wall expresses that "This organization will remain committed to each individual to ensure that we all know (the) sacrifice of these men and women as well as the sacrifice -- the day-in, day-out sacrifice -- of those that they left behind."
Moore last year also noted that, of the 239 fallen, 62 had occurred since he joined the force in 1981, including 12 during his tenure as chief.
He said the Memorial Wall honors the fallen "for their selfless actions, their commitment to justice and the sacrifice to protect others from evil no matter the cost."
"Their sacrifice will not be in vain and we will never forget them or what they stood for," Moore said.
"To each family member of these fallen, you will forever remain in our heart, a part of our family, a part of what makes this great city great, which is this department's work each day in the communities across the city."
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