Groundbreaking for Law Enforcement Memorial of Southeast Minnesota scheduled for Thursday afternoon
Jun. 24—A groundbreaking ceremony for the Law Enforcement Memorial of Southeast Minnesota is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
The event is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the memorial site at the corner of Seventh Street and George Gibbs Drive Southwest. The Rochester Caledonian Pipe Band is expected to play and the son of a Rochester police officer who died in 1967 will speak.
The memorial, which will honor all five branches of law enforcement municipal, county, state and federal as well as military law enforcement, has been in the works for at least a decade when the nonprofit was founded.
Once built, the wall will likely be engraved with 33 names, including two fallen law enforcement officers who were recently discovered by a student doing a research paper about law enforcement
In addition to the memorial wall, the site will also feature 21 sentinel evergreen trees lining the west hill overlooking the memorial, echoing the number of steps taken by guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as well as those taken by the Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association Honor Guard at the state memorial in St. Paul.
Construction is scheduled to start Monday, June 28. The memorial is being built with private donations. In April, Olmsted County Sheriff and President of the Southeast Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation's board Kevin Torgerson said approximately half of the $500,000 had been raised.
