By Amanda Lien
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is reportedly running out of room for new names.
According to a planning synopsis released by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Parks Service, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial was designed to have enough space to last through the year 2100, based on an average of 153 line-of-duty deaths per year. But the NLEOMF didn’t anticipate the large number of historic LODDs discovered and added each year. The names added from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks also created further space complications.
An average of 337 names are added to the memorial every year, including current and historical line of duty deaths. As a result, the memorial will likely run out of room to add new names by the year 2029, the synopsis says.
The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Feb. 6 to discuss expanding the memorial. A proposal conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Parks Service would add 15 inches to the height of the existing ‘Walls of Remembrance.’
“This project will allow approximately 9,000 new names to be added to the memorial to extend the number of years to 2057,” the proposal states, according to WUSA. “This modification would maintain the current look of the Memorial when viewed from E and F Streets and would only become apparent as one moved down the Pathway of Remembrance.”
It’s not currently clear where the funds for the proposed addition would come from.