Where can I find a searchable database of names and biographies for officers on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial?
Executive summary
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) maintains an official, searchable database of the names and profiles of officers whose names are carved on the Memorial; the Memorial’s website hosts a “Fallen Officer Search” and a dedicated “Remember” listing that allows visitors to look up individual honorees [1] [2]. An earlier public-facing site for the Memorial’s names (names.lawmemorial.org) and the independent Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) are practical alternate searchable resources that compile biographies and case details [3] [4].
1. Where the official searchable database lives and how it’s labeled
The principal, authoritative resource is the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s own web presence: the Memorial’s site includes a “Fallen Officer Search” and a “Remember” page explicitly described as a place “where you may search for those who have been so honored—those whose names are engraved on the Memorial wall” [1] [2]. The NLEOMF frames itself as the national clearinghouse for line-of-duty death information and explicitly states it maintains the largest, most comprehensive database of such deaths, positioning its search tools as the official starting point [5] [6].
2. Alternate official URL historically used for names and maps
A names-focused portal hosted at names.lawmemorial.org has long been the site-level entry point for browsing the carved names and virtual maps of the Memorial; search pages on that domain (for example, /search.html) are indexed in public reporting and have historically provided direct lookup by name and details about each honoree [3] [7]. That legacy domain is useful for visitors seeking the physical layout plus an interface concentrated on the inscribed names.
3. Independent, widely used complementary database: ODMP
Journalistic and family-researchers often consult the Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) as a complementary, searchable repository of fallen-officer biographies and incident narratives; ODMP explicitly bills itself as dedicated to remembering officers who have died in the line of duty and operates its own searchable database [4] [8]. ODMP frequently includes supplemental context and incident summaries that can differ from or expand upon the Memorial Fund’s official entries.
4. Numbers matter — and they vary between sources
Different pages report different totals for how many names appear on the Memorial: the Fund’s site notes the walls carry “more than 24,000 officers” [1], other Memorial pages reference “over 23,000” [2], and promotional text on the names portal gives figures above 21,000 dating to earlier counts [3]. These discrepancies reflect ongoing additions each spring during National Police Week, when newly verified names are engraved, and underline why searching the live NLEOMF database is the most current route [1].
5. Institutional context and potential perspectives to weigh
The Memorial Fund is a nonprofit that both operates the Memorial and organizes National Police Week events; it describes itself as the nation’s clearinghouse for line-of-duty deaths and is governed in partnership with major law enforcement organizations, which shapes its mission and priorities [6] [9]. That institutional role explains why its database is authoritative for names on the engraved walls, while independent projects like ODMP can provide additional narrative detail or alternative presentation choices [4].
6. Practical next steps for researchers and family members
To find individual names and biographies, start with the NLEOMF “Fallen Officer Search” or the “Remember” page on the Memorial Fund’s website for the official inscription and memorial record [1] [2], consult the names.lawmemorial.org search interface for a map-oriented view of the Memorial [3] [7], and use ODMP as a secondary source for extended biographies and incident descriptions [4] [8]. If a specific biography or incident detail is not found on these pages, public reporting does not provide a definitive alternative and direct contact with the Memorial Fund is the next verifiable step [1] [2].