Names of Philadelphia Officers Killed in the Line of Duty in 2008 to be Engraved on National Memorial

The Philadelphia Police Department endured more line-of-duty deaths in 2008 than any other law enforcement agency in the nation. Today, the names of Sergeants Stephen Liczbinski, Patrick McDonald, and Timothy Simpson, and Officer Isabel Nazario will be engraved on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC.

Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey will lead a delegation of family members, loved ones, and police officers to witness the engraving of the names on panels 3-E and 4-E of the nation's monument to fallen officers.

The four Philadelphia officers were among 133 law enforcement officers nationwide killed in the line of duty during 2008. The names of those officers, along with 254 others who died in previous years but whose stories had previously been lost to history, are being engraved this month on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. All 387 names will be formally dedicated on the Memorial during the 21st Annual Candlelight Vigil on the evening of May 13, part of the National Police Week observance.

After this year's names are added, there will be a total of 18,661 law enforcement officers remembered on the Memorial. Since its first line-of-duty death in 1828, the Philadelphia Police Department has lost 251 officers, the third highest total of any municipal police department in the United States.

For more information about the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, visit www.lawmemorial.org.