It was a bright sunny day several years ago. I had sent out an e-mail looking for other officers to honor a fallen officer from another agency. Eleven officers responded to the e-mail. Our plan was to line a portion of the street leading to the cemetery where the procession would pass. We were not a formal honor guard, but a dozen uniformed cops who wanted to honor a brother and more especially his family and children.

That was a warm early spring day and I was standing in the shade of a funeral home porch when a woman approached and asked what Ann Arbor Police officers were doing there. I explained that we were honoring a “brother” who had died in the line of duty.

What she remembered however was his funeral. Her memory as a little girl was that her daddy was a hero. Her memory was that her hometown held a huge “parade” for her daddy. There were “lots and lots, rows and rows of police officers marching” in her daddy’s parade. After the parade there was a picnic. Unfortunately the parade and picnic meant that daddy would not be coming home anymore.

She told me her memory was a happy one. She also told me she always felt special because of that “happy” day and for the police officers that would sometimes drop by her home to visit her family.

Since I started writing these columns, I was contacted by a man in Texas whose father was an Ann Arbor Police officer who died in the line of duty in the early 1960’s. This son told me that just before his father died, his dad had promised him a new bicycle. Officers on the department found out about the fallen officer’s unfulfilled promise and took up a collection. The fallen officer’s lieutenant delivered the very model and color bicycle the son had been promised. This man who wrote me said he still owned that bicycle and it was one of his most prized possessions and was still in mint condition. It was a memento of his father’s sacrifice and the now middle aged son’s eternal membership in the Ann Arbor Police Department family.

Cops are sometimes perceived as cold, calloused and uncaring. Those who have been ticketed, arrested or given direction by an officer may feel this way. Allow me to lift the blue knight’s mask.

Police officers as a group are very caring and charitable. There is hardly a week that goes by that officers are not asked for donations for a fallen officer’s family or to help an injured officer in need somewhere in the state. The donation envelopes are always filled.

The public will never know or hear of the generosity some officers have for their “favorite” homeless people or others down on their luck. Officers won’t give anything more than a dirty look to panhandlers, but will slide a few bucks “for groceries” or a winter hat or coat to their favorite (those polite and friendly—even if intoxicated) street people. Those donations are usually so covert that other officers won’t see them and the recipient is sworn to secrecy so the officer isn’t labeled an easy mark or too soft.

In 1962, Congress and President Kennedy enacted legislation that May 15th would be National Peace Officer Memorial Day and the week surrounding that date would be National Police Week. This year National Police Week is observed from May 15-21.

During police week, please take a moment to think about the officers who have died or been seriously injured doing their duty. Think about their families as well. Those families lost a spouse, parent, child, or sibling who was protecting us. If you are so moved send a prayer to the deity of your choice or good thoughts toward the officers and their families who have sacrificed so much.

For those who wish to make a donation, the Thin Blue Line of Michigan or Michigan Concerns of Police Survivors (MICOPS) are charities for the fallen officers and their families.

If you want to show your local cops that you are thinking about them during Police Week put a blue light bulb in one of your lamps that face the street. I guarantee it will brighten an officer’s night to see a blue light in a window or on a porch as they patrol.

Lock it up, don’t leave it unattended, be aware and watch out for your neighbors.

Rich Kinsey is a retired Ann Arbor police detective sergeant who now blogs about crime and safety for AnnArbor.com.