honor, serve, protect - Village of Morton Grove

Law Enforcement is a noble profession with inherent risks that officers face each time they report for
duty. Sadly, in 2009, 110 officers across the nation lost their lives in the line of duty, leaving 110
families shattered and thousands of lives affected, so that all can live in freedom. A little piece of us
dies with each, and it is an everyday reminder that tomorrow is promised to no one. Please remember
those officers who did not return to their loved ones after a “routine” day on the job. Our heartfelt
condolences go out to the families and friends of these fallen officers.
“What's The Midnight Piper?”
Each year during National Police Week, a lone bagpiper appears at
midnight at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in
Washington, DC, to play a tribute to the fallen heroes engraved on
the Memorial's walls. Jim O'Connell, the original “Midnight Piper”
said, "What an honor it was to do that," and that as long as he has air
in his lungs he will play the pipes at the Memorial ever year.
Sadly, Jimmy O'Connell, passed away after a battle with brain
cancer. Reflecting on his death, NLEOMF Chairman Craig Floyd
wrote, “Many of us gather at the Memorial late at night, and out of
the quiet darkness steps the Midnight Piper to pay a solemn tribute to
the 18,661 fallen heroes whose names grace the Memorial walls.
Jimmy was the original Midnight Piper, and we are so grateful to him
for this wonderful tradition that will now live on in his memory.”
Police Memorial
Jimmy O'Connell (Illinois Emerald Society) made it a point to fulfill
his original promise to play a tribute at midnight in memory of Chicago PD Ofc. Richard Clark, EOW
April 3, 1986. Panel 19-W: 9, a tradition that has been going on since 1994.
“They then went on to explain that one of the members of their group
had two brothers on the wall. They had all gone to the Memorial the night before and that at midnight
a bagpiper started playing and then ended his performance with ‘Amazing Grace.’ They said that all
of the people visiting the Memorial at that time had broken into tears and by the time anyone had
regained their composure, the bagpiper and his friends had left.”
Morton Grove Police Department 2009 Annual Report Page 6