Aims & Objectives

Objects

The Trust is Incorporated by Royal Charter with the following objectives:

• the provision of a record of all those Police Officers who lost their lives in a manner that dictates their name be added, historically or contemporaneously, to the United Kingdom’s Police Roll of Honour;
• support the ongoing research to ensure accuracy and relevance of the United Kingdom’s Police Roll of Honour;
• the provision of, or to assist in the provision of, and maintenance of memorials including statues, memorial gardens, books of remembrance, plaques and other appropriate memorials be they national, local, group or individual;
• the holding of, or participation in, memorial services or other acts of remembrance.

Benefits

The following public, educational and welfare benefits will result from the charity objects:-

• To foster good citizenship for the benefit of the public at large by the construction and maintenance of the Police Roll of Honour in remembrance of every police officer killed in the line of duty.
• The Roll of Honour pays a public tribute to all the police officers of the United Kingdom who have lost their lives on and in the line of duty since the earliest days of professional law enforcement. The Roll includes officers killed by accident or enemy action as well as by criminal acts and we will ensure future losses are also recorded.
• Publishing the officers’ names and details, as a means of remembering, commemorates their sacrifice in the public service. It provides a focal point and visible means for family and friends to reflect on the loss of their loved ones and to know that their sacrifice was not in vain and their loss is not forgotten.
• Throughout the United Kingdom and former UK administered forces overseas there will be as many as 5,000 names on the Roll with half of them having died within the last 70 years, potentially leaving many thousands of living relatives and descendants who will directly benefit in this way.
• By bringing their service and sacrifice to the public attention, the community in general will benefit by knowing their police officers are prepared to take the special risks of police duty to keep them safe. Sometimes the police officer’s dedication to duty means they have to pay the ultimate price; the public can be reassured that when this sacrifice is made the officers and their families will not be forgotten.
• This will be of benefit to both the public and the police service in enhancing police and community relations by promoting public understanding and support for the police and raising the status of the police officer in the community.
• To advance the education of the public, and in particular the police, in the history of officers killed in the line of duty and officer safety by the maintenance of a comprehensive archive of information available to the public.
• Records will encompass all line of duty deaths since the earliest days of professional law enforcement over three centuries ago. By documenting and preserving this little known area of police history, the public and police service will benefit by having for the first time an accessible and authoritative archive of the subject.
• This will be of use to police and family historians, individual police forces, the media and others who may wish to use it for study, research or analysis purposes. Increased knowledge and understanding of how police fatalities occur will help promote officer safety and lead to a decrease in their numbers.
• Research has shown that in the 70 years between 1940 and 2010 more than 2,400 British Police Officers lost their lives in the line of duty in the UK and overseas, leaving many thousands of living relatives and descendants who will potentially benefit. Our experience with relatives bereaved as long as 90 years ago is that the distress and trauma of a sudden violent death can last a lifetime.
• We will provide advice and information on line of duty deaths and related issues through the provision of regular newsletters and individual citations relating to the loss of their relatives. We will encourage Subscribing Member status of the Trust to the bereaved families in order to maintain regular contact. In cases of need we may provide advice on how to obtain assistance to attend relevant memorial sites, remembrance services or other meetings or events related to the objects.

Aims

These objects will be carried out by the completion of the following, where resources allow, in order to secure the creation of the United Kingdom’s Police Roll of Honour in remembrance of all police officers who have lost their lives on and in the line of duty and to support those left behind and to these ends to procure commission of or otherwise acquire the following aims (but not exclusive of any other related aims):

• To compile a permanent historical public record for the British Police Service of all police officers who have lost their lives on and in the line of duty since the earliest days of professional law enforcement over three centuries ago;
• To research all available historical and contemporary information about individual officers in both public and official records and to collate and archive the results of this research in line with published criteria for inclusion on the roll;
• To record on a database all available details of each officer including the full circumstances of death, service history, personal and family background and details of any honours, awards, or memorials including photographs of the officer and any such memorials;
• To maintain these records on a computer database which can be updated with additional or new information as and when this becomes available;
• To provide relatives of deceased officers, and other bona fide interested parties, with information and individual written citations relating to each officer;
• To make appropriate information held on computer readily accessible to the public via computer networks at memorial sites and or via the internet;
• To publish the Police Roll of Honour, in the form of a ceremonial book of remembrance for permanent exhibition at one or more public national police memorials. For this roll to display, for each day of the year, details of those who have died on that date, showing each officer’s name, age, rank and force, and the date, place and brief circumstances of death and any related posthumous honour or award;
• To provide, or assist in the provision of, the inscription of the relevant names on a physical monument at the site of any national or local police memorial; and where no appropriate memorial exists, to construct and maintain such a memorial;
• To record the location of all known police memorials and gravestones to officers killed in the line of duty, to maintain a record including photographs of such, and in cases of need to assist in the repair or maintenance of such;
• To provide support and assistance to police forces, related organisations and charities with any research relevant to a Police Roll of Honour or Memorial;
• To accept, where possible, invitations to attend any appropriate Police Memorial, Remembrance or Dedication Service in order to show support for the police service and for families of deceased officers and to promulgate the work of the Trust.