You may notice in your travels around the Cape and Islands today that flags are at half-staff.
That is per order of the President in honor of National Police Memorial Day.
Yarmouth Deputy Police Chief, Steven Xiarhos, says the men and women of the Yarmouth PD will be honoring National Police Memorial Week by wearing a black and blue mourning band over their badges as a tribute to the more than 20,000 police officers – including Yarmouth officer Brad Erickson who was killed in the line of duty on December 1, 2000 – who have given their lives in the service of their fellow citizens.
It was President Kennedy, in 1962, who designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and since then, the calendar week in which May 15 falls is deemed National Police Week.