POLICE WEEK 2015
WITH HONOR, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29
daunting moment detract even a hint from the honor he wanted
to bring.
“The reverence was important to me,” he explained. “I wanted
to make sure the names were read with the reverence they
deserve. I didn’t want someone to hear the loved one’s name and
not think it was read honorably. I hope I did it.”
He most certainly did, joining the traditional roll call of dignitaries that stepped to the podium, one by one to read the names
to their more than 20,000 people who once again packed the
National Law Enforcement Memorial. In fact, in Washington,
D.C., not far from Pennsylvania Avenue and the Oval Office, Colligan was, well, very presidential.
He has embraced these moments ever since his presidency
began. Colligan has always been good on the big stage, even one
as big as this, showing an illustriousness that is equal parts officer
and statesman.
But while everybody might had been watching Colligan, he
was watching right back. Beyond the honor of reading the names,
he confided that the most memorable part of this adventure was
having such a good seat.
In all the years he has been coming to Police Week, the best
spot he could muster always seemed to be near the back of the
Memorial. Yet from his vantage point this year on the stage, Colligan realized something about the Vigil nearly as daunting as
reading the names.
“From my previous vantage points I had never been faced with
row after row of the wives and the kids and the parents and the
aunts and the uncles and the cousins of all the fallen officers,” he
related. “You couldn’t take your eyes off of them and you couldn’t
help but thinking about why they were there front and center. It
was impressive.”
Colligan called this the perk of the honor, and, additionally, a
privilege. To be sure, in his first opportunity to represent New Jersey, he certainly was, well, very presidential. d
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