Royal Charter awarded to Police Roll of Honour Trust

The trust has received royal recognition for its work remembering every officer killed in the line of duty and helping the families that have been bereaved.

A reception event in London was held on Tuesday (June 19) to celebrate as it became the only police charity to receive the charter – which was presented by Lord Wasserman and Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner Cressida Dick CBE QPM.  

The Police Roll of Honour was founded 18 years ago to acknowledge the 5,000 officers who have lost their lives while serving since the earliest days of professional law enforcement over three centuries ago. 

The charity pays special recognition for those who died as a result of executing their duty, such as Police Constable Keith Palmer who was killed in the Westminster attacks last year.  

The list of names dates back hundreds of years, compiled through 30 years of research. The charity has currently acquired knowledge of 4,000 officers’ names in the UK alone and suspects around 1,000 will be found from research of the British colonies. 

The first recorded death, of an unnamed officer, appeared in the ‘Proceedings of the Old Bailey’ and dates from 1680. He became the first officer to appear on the roll and represents the unknown dead.   

The Trust says: “Within these pages are the names of many heroes and heroines but mostly they contain the names of ordinary men and women – fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, partners, friends and colleagues. What makes them extraordinary is not how they died but how they lived – doing an often dangerous and thankless job, forgotten until needed – protecting the community for which, in the course of their duties, they lost their lives. 

“Sadly, as long as police officers are prepared to take risks in the protection of their communities, it is inevitable that the Roll will never be complete. The Trust will ensure future losses are also recorded and added to the Roll, which will continue to serve as an ongoing memorial to those who lose their lives in the service of the public, and those left behind may now be assured their loss will never be forgotten.” 

Sidney MacKay, Chairman of the Police Roll of Honour Trust said: “On the 19th June, the Trust was honoured to receive the Letters Patent granting a Royal Charter approved by Her Majesty The Queen to the Trust. We shared our pride and pleasure with our many friends and supporters who were at the reception.  

“Being the only police charity holding a Charter is, we believe, recognition of the importance of the work we do to identify and maintain the records of fallen officers. These records are not only a memorial to those who have died but serve as a reassurance to those left behind that their loved one is not forgotten with the passage of time.”