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CHRIS TISCHPinellas is fortunate to have no names on the list this year, but across the nation, 54 have fallen.
LARGO - It has been more than a decade since a Pinellas law enforcement officer has fallen in the line of duty, but that doesn't stop county deputies and officers from taking a day each year to honor the memories of those colleagues killed in service.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday morning held the 17th annual county law enforcement memorial observance. Police and sheriff's officials remembered the 20 officers who have been killed on duty in Pinellas County.
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, the ceremony's guest speaker, praised deputies and police officers for their service. He said the work of law enforcement has helped clip Florida's crime rate to its lowest level in 33 years.
Crime figures from 2003, which were released Tuesday, show violent crime is down 5.1 percent compared with the year before.
"You serve with a servant's heart," Crist said. "You serve because it's meaningful and it's the right thing to do."
The most recent death of a police officer in Pinellas occurred in 1993, when Belleair Officer Jeffery Tackett was shot during a struggle with a would-be burglar.
Pinellas officers killed on duty are honored on a memorial stone in Law Enforcement Memorial Park, which is next to the Sheriff's Office administration building on Ulmerton Road.
"Here in Pinellas County, we are fortunate there are no new names to add," said sheriff's Maj. Dennis Fowler.
But so far this year, 54 law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty across the nation.
Hundreds of officers and deputies from around the county watched a wreath presentation, then listened to a reading of the names of fallen officers, a moment of silence, a 21-gun salute, a double-trumpet version of taps and a bagpipe performance of Amazing Grace by the Dunedin High School Scottish Highlanders Pipe Band.
A siren wailed in the distance during a rendition of Danny Boy.
"We gather as a law enforcement family to honor those who paid the ultimate price," said Sheriff Everett Rice. "This is an opportunity to celebrate the lives of those whose names are on our memorial stone."