MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade police held a special ceremony Monday to remember the officers who were killed in the line of duty.
Some of the fallen officers were laid to rest at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North cemetery, while some are across the country.
No matter how far they are, every year during the month of May, an officer goes to their gravesite to honor their sacrifice.
One officer brought two flags to the mausoleum, carefully placing them at a sarcophagus of one of his co-workers who was killed in the line of duty.
"A lot of the officers that have passed in the line of duty I've known, I've worked with and it just means a lot to be here," Sgt. Kelvin Cox said.
More than 140 Miami-Dade police officers have been killed in the line of duty since 1895.
Police place an American flag and a blue line flag every year at their graves to honor their sacrifice.
"A lot of those officers were assaulted by felonious means, and killed," Miami-Dade police director Juan Perez said. "Others were just involved in pursuits and strenuous exercises, and just really protecting our community, doing what we try to do best, and making this a better place for all of us."
The graves are not only in Miami-Dade County, but all over the country and the Caribbean.
Miami-Dade police coordinate with officers in those areas to make sure those gravesites get flags, too.
"Those sacrifices, the only way those officers live in eternity, is if we continue to remember them every single year," Perez said.
Monday's ceremony is part of Project Hero, which stands for Honoring Every Resting Officer.
There are 17 gravesites that do not get those flags.
Police said they were either not able to locate those graves or the officers were cremated.