The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver

NYS Police Officers Memorial

Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

{As Prepared For Delivery}

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver addressed the New York State Police Officers Memorial ceremony. Silver said the police officers honored at this year’s memorial did not become heroes on the day their names were chiseled into the memorial wall, but when they answered the call to serve and protect communities throughout New York State. View Video

Senator Bruno. Commissioner O'Donnell. Deputy Secretary Balboni. Mayor Jennings. County Executive Breslin. Members of the Clergy. Members of Law Enforcement. Friends and Family of the Officers we honor here today.

The Greek historian Thucydides once wrote: "The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it."

To you, the families, the friends and the colleagues of the heroes that we honor here today, I humbly offer the sympathy and the heartfelt gratitude of each and every member of the New York State Assembly.

We add our voices to those of the good citizens of this, our state in thanking G-d for blessing us with guardians of such profound bravery and nobility.

One thing above all must be clearly understood.

The officers we honor today did not become heroes on the day their names were chiseled into this wall. These brave men and women were heroes on the day they answered the call to serve us and to protect us.

Each year, when we gather at this hallowed place, I am struck by a sense of tragic irony.

I had neither the honor nor the privilege of meeting the seven officers who gave their lives in the line of duty last year and who are among the 29 law enforcers whose names have been added to this wall, and yet I counted on them.

Every second of every day and every night that they were serving and protecting us, I counted on their pride and their sense of duty.

I counted on their training and their experience.

I counted on their integrity and their courageous spirits.

I counted on them as all New Yorkers count on law enforcement:

For the liberty to come and go, and to live our lives as we choose;

For the justice that is the bedrock of this Democracy that we cherish.

Seldom did we - or do we - give that reliance a moment's thought.

Until, that is, we come together at this Memorial.

Here we begin to comprehend the magnitude of the loss.

Here we see behind the shield to the men and women who loved and are loved, and to the families for whom law enforcement was and is an eternal sacrifice.

Here we come face to face with the cost of a culture that too often demands its freedom but disdains its responsibility; a culture that we see glorifying greed and violence and incivility every day.

Here we are forced to open our eyes to the immensity of the challenge of maintaining order and peace in this culture; a challenge and a duty our law enforcement officers under take boldly and bravely 24 hours a day, each and every day.

So, it must also be here that we find the inspiration and the will to make New York a state worthy of the men and women who have fallen in the line of duty.

It must be here that we decide that the lives of the 1247 fallen heroes whose names are listed on this wall must and will amount to something more than a day of remembrance.

It must be here that we begin to make New York a fitting place for heroes to live in.

It must be here that our law enforcement officers feel that they can count on us.

To the families of the officers we honor today, I thank you for the service and the hope your loved ones have given us. I pray that we will honor them in all that we do.

May G-d bless you and keep you.

May G-d bless our law-enforcement officers and may they be guided and protected wherever they serve.

Thank you.