Law Enforcement
Memorial Association, Inc.


Announcment

It is with deep sadness that the Law Enforcement Memorial Association announces the death of Ron Van Raalte, L.E.M.A. President and founder. Ron passed away on February 14, 2008 from an apparent heart attack while he and his wife, Carol, were traveling in Arizona.

Ron was a cop’s cop. After retiring from Arlington Heights, Illinois Police Department he started a new career with Avis Rent-a-Car Company and was their Region Security Director until he retired from Avis several years ago. Ron was a life-time member of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators and had served as their president in 1979. He also won several of their top awards. After Carol retired from American Airlines, Ron and Carol moved to their cottage on the lake in Edwardsburg, Michigan.

Ron had researched thousands of in-the-line-of-duty police officer deaths since 1976. Through his research he found “hundreds” of officers who had been killed, forgotten, not only by their communities but even by the departments they had worked for. These “forgotten heroes” triggered a commitment by Ron to see that all officers in the United States killed in-the-line-of-duty would be duly honored and remembered. In 1989 Ron founded the Law Enforcement Memorial Association dedicated to honoring and remembered these fallen heroes. Ron was truly a pioneer in remembering and honoring the sacrifices of law enforcement officers and their families across America.

Request From Ron's Family


Any Memorials in Ron's name can be made to:
Our Lady of the Lake Parish
24832 U.S. 12 East
Edwardsburg, MI 49112
Thank you and God bless.

New email address: forgottenheroes@charter.net

"Honoring America's Domestic Soldiers"

The Law Enforcement Memorial Association, Inc. is dedicated to honoring the 16,000 law officers who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Our goal is to build a lasting memorial museum and research library complex.

  • LEMA should not be confused with other organizations and memorials with similar sounding names.

  • LEMA is the repository of the most extensively researched project in the United States' law enforcement history.

  • LEMA is the only national memorial organization which is governed by officers who have worked the streets as police officers.

When we began our research in 1980, we soon learned of the deaths of 9 officers in Milwaukee (bombing) and 7 in Chicago (Haymarket Riots). We never thought our profession would experience a loss of more than 60 officers in one incident. It is noteworthy that 4 of the 5 worst incidents were terrorist related. The loss of 343 firefighters numbs our minds.

As we have called our slain officers, "America's Domestic Soldiers", many of which are "Forgotten Heroes" and these slain officers are as much victims of war as the casualties in Pearl Harbor. It is our goal to remember and honor all of these slain officers.

The officers and members of the Law Enforcement Memorial Association, Inc. extend our deepest sympathies to the families of these officers, the departments and the City of New York. Let us pray that our Government is successful in bringing the offenders still alive to justice, whatever that justice may be.

Prior tragedies in law enforcement:

04-19-1995    9    Oklahoma City Bombing
11-24-1917    9    Milwaukee WI Police Deparment
04-15-1872    8    U.S. Marshals Service, Oklahoma Territory
05-04-1886    7    Chicago Police Department
12-15-1890    6    U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
04-06-1902    6    Colbert County, Alabama, Sheriff Department

There have been 5 instances of 5 deaths, and 10 of 4 deaths.

forgottenheroes@charter.net

Research Example

  1. The first officer known killed was in 1717.
  2. The second officer known killed was in 1724.
  3. The first female officer known killed was in 1916.
  4. The first African American officer known killed was in 1871.
  5. The first American Indian officer killed was in 1852.
  6. The first Pacific Island officer killed was in 1903.
  7. The youngest officer killed was 17.
  8. Data includes where the officer was a member of a fraternal society, served in the military, belonged to the VFW, American Legion, or served in Viet Nam.
  9. Data includes:
    1. Number of children surviving the officer.
    2. If wife was pregnant at time of officer's death.
    3. If officer was engaged to be married.
    4. Names of all offenders executed for killing an officer.
    5. Names of officers born in foreign countries, by country.
    6. Names of officers killed in foreign countries, by country.
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LAW ENFORCEMENT MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, INC.

forgottenheroes@charter.net



From the archives of LEMA - Photo taken at the front of the Oakland County Courthouse, Pontiac, Michigan circa 1930. Click on photo for full size enlargement.




Click on this image to link to one of the largest police sites on the Internet.




Click on this logo for the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators .



Click on this image to link to Brodin Studios, Inc., the premier provider of
sculpted art for the law enforcement and military communities.


Learn about Westerners International at this link.


Where the Wild West Comes Alive





NOLA is a non-profit, educational organization whose aim is to discover, share, and promote the true stories of outlaws and lawmen in the frontier West.

lema email contact: forgottenheroes@charter.net      this site is maintained by kdw@i2k.net