[Music] thank you the honor guard serves as a ceremonial unit of the Portland Police Bureau the honor guard renders honors for fallen comrades lost in the line of duty and at funerals for both active and retired police officers the honor guard serves as the Guardians of the Colors by displaying and escorting the national and state flag during various City events such as parades award ceremonies conferences and banquets the honor guard serves as ambassadors of the city of Portland during law enforcement memorial events at the local state and National level the Portland Police Honor Guard is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of Integrity professionalism and traditions in representing the men and women of law enforcement my name is Steve Chadwick I'm a chaplain with the Portland Police Bureau we get a number of of requests for funerals for retired important police officers and the statement they make to me is that they don't know any of the people at the bureau anymore and I tell them that doesn't matter that the Portland Police will be there to support and take care of them and and that that is a a valuable piece for me when I'm doing a funeral and I see the the honor guard arriving is is something that I know the family appreciates very much there's a number of funerals that I've been a part of that that they didn't even know a lot of the stories about their their grandfather or or the person from their family that that that we're remembering and and being there and having officers there in uniform reminds them of that and and we get to share those stories together and and that that's a very healing process for families in 1998 officer Colleen Weibel was killed in the line of duty and chief moose authorized the formal formation of the Portland Police Honor Guard to render honors to their fallen comrade Lieutenant Harmon took command of the unit and designed the current honor guard uniforms which received a national award today the honor guard has 36 sworn members that participated in 51 events last year including traveling out of state to represent the Portland Police Bureau and paying tribute to officers killed in the line of duty anyone that has attended a fallen officer Memorial can testify to the impact the honor guard has during the service in the recent memorial for Oregon City Reserve officer Rob lipke honor guards from all over the region to include Canada gather to form the honor accordion organize the casket watch conduct the flag folding and presentation and render the 21 gun salute in 1962 John F Kennedy signed a proclamation which designated May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day the week leading up to May 15th is recognized as National Police Week Portland Police Honor Guard along with Bureau and city leaders conducts a ceremony each year paying tribute to our fallen officers man it the honor guard also sends four officers to represent the Portland Police Bureau to the National peace officer memorial service in Washington D.C each year I'm Tim hereoff I work at North Precinct on night shift it was my sister Carrie harroff just here to talk about the honor guard and what they did for our family in late 2010 my father Nathan Harris died he was uh he retired as a sergeant here probably about 15 years ago now I'm here to talk today about what the honor guard did for our family about three years ago dad passed away and we were not prepared and honestly the last thing you want to do is plan a funeral um so when somebody asked us do you want to use the honor guard and told us a little bit about what it was it was a no-brainer they did everything for us and it was it was wonderful for us to think of or to have someone come in and give us something that was that honored him and what he did with his life and what he was so proud to do he was a good cop and as a daughter I was really proud to have my dad be a policeman and when the day came I just I remember it being so beautiful having these people come and and give him a funeral with dignity where everyone could see how special he was to us and and how good of a person he was and what he dedicated his life to well most people that become policemen they take a lot of pride in what they do you'd have to and your career is your identity for so many people especially in police work so to have a funeral that remembers you in that way is it's very important for policemen or for anyone you want you want something you want to showcase what you've been proud of what you've been proud of to do with your life sworn members joined the honor guard to uphold a deep-rooted tradition of paying a final tribute to officers and serve as representatives of the Portland Police Bureau during special events Honor Guard officers are not paid overtime to represent the bureau in these events officers adjust their schedules to participate out of a deep respect and service to those involved [Music] the honor guard is funded solely by citizen donations and has no funding from the bureau your giving and support is very much appreciated foreign [Music]