To Serve and Protect: KMC hosts police week

  • Published
  • By By. Staff Sgt. Nesha Humes Stanton
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
VOGELWEH MILITARY COMPLEX, Germany --  Kaiserslautern Military Community law enforcement members gathered to commemorate and conclude Police Week 2019 with a retreat ceremony, May 17, 2019, on Vogelweh Military Complex, Germany.

“The retreat ceremony is the final event to sum up police week and say good bye to the last defenders or law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in recent years,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leigh Salisbury, NATO Military Police shift lead.

”It’s a moment for all us to come together and appreciate all the things law enforcement officers have done and the people who have sacrificed their lives,” Salisbury said.

The event was held as part of National Police Week, which was proclaimed by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 to pay special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Police Week 2019 included many events such as a golf tournament, 24-hour ruck march, 5K run, prayer breakfast, a Battle of the Badges competition, and a military working dog, combative, and taser demonstrations.

German Polizei, U.S. Army military police, Air Force Office of Special Investigation agents, and the U.S. Air Force security forces airmen all participated and assisted with the week’s events.

Salisbury said she hopes event attendees realize what they do is so much bigger than checking identification cards at the gate or securing the flight line.

“It’s good to get back to our roots,” Salisbury said. “We see how it effects other people and how we can come together.”