www.honorbands.net/
For more than a year, two former Long Beach police officers have made it their mission to honor each and every law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in the Unites States by outfitting each member of the officers’ departments with personalized black “mourning bands” to be worn over their badges as a sign of respect to their departed colleagues.
In a sight that’s become all too common in recent months, whenever a law enforcement officer falls in the line of duty, fellow officers traditionally don black mourning bands over their badges in tribute. HonorBands co-founder Laura Tartaglione of Monrovia said. The bands are generally nondescript, plain black bands of black elastic worn across the front of a badge.
Starting from their kitchens and working by hand, Tartaglione and partner Julia Walling of Los Alamitos set out to make sure that every fallen officer, deputy or trooper was honored with personalized mourning bands, featuring the badge number, name, or other personal aspects of the fallen officer, Tartaglione said. The home-based endeavor grew quickly, and Tartaglione and Walling soon rented out a space and equipment in Los Alamitos to create the more than 70,000 bands they’ve made since and sent throughout the country, free of charge, to honor fallen officers from coast to coast.
“This is our way of helping that department that’s crushed,” Tartaglione said. “It cannot bring an officer back, but this is a way to honor that man or woman one last time. It’s a beautiful tribute. It’s the last thing you get to do to honor that person.”
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