WASHINGTON — When the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was first dedicated in October 1991, it displayed the names of 12,561 officers who died in the line of duty through the end of 1990.
To this day, the memorial in D.C. holds the names of 21,183 fallen officers, but it's running out of room for new names, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.
When the memorial was originally designated, enough space was provided on the name walls to add names annually though the year 2100, based on an average of 153 line of duty deaths each year.
Over the past 10 years, an average of 158 officers have died in the line of duty every year. However, according to a planning synopsis by the U.S. Department of the Interior and NPS, the memorial fund didn't anticipate that an average of 184 historical names would continue to be discovered. This continued for 28 years after the memorial was dedicated.
Additionally, the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 resulted in 72 names added. To this day, the memorial continues to add names of the officers die from illnesses resulting from Sept. 11, according to the synopsis provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior and NPS.
As a result, an average of 337 names are added to the memorial every year. At this rate, there won't be enough room.
"If names continue to be added at this rate, the Memorial will run out of room to add new names by the year 2029," the development site plan said.
The National Capital Planning Commission is meeting Feb. 6 to discuss a proposal dedicated to expand the memorial conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.
The memorial site is a three-acre parcel at the center of Judiciary Square between E and F Streets in Northwest, and 4th and 5th Streets, Northwest. The proposal is to add 15 inches to the height of the existing curved 'Walls of Remembrance' to increase space available for names, the proposal said.
"This project will allow approximately 9,000 new names to be added to the memorial to extend the number of years to 2057," the proposal said. "This modification would maintain the current look of the Memorial when viewed from E and F Streets and would only become apparent as one moved down the Pathway of Remembrance."
It's not clear where the funds for the proposed memorial addition will come from.