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Nov 19, 2006 3:29 pm US/Central
'Blue Light Service' Honors Fallen Police
by Mary Tan
St. Paul (WCCO) ―
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Jennifer Silvera, the widow of Lino Lakes, Minn., police Ofc. Shawn Silvera, and one of her two children attend a memorial service for police officers who died in the line of duty.
CBS
Dozens braved the cold and dark of late fall to visit the Peace Officers Memorial in St. Paul Saturday night for a memorial service for the fallen.
Dubbed the "blue light service," an honor guard paraded down a column of blue votive candles representing the lives of police officers who died in the line of duty.
One of them was Sgt. Jerry Vick who was shot and killed on the east side of St. Paul last year. He had worked tirelessly to get prostitutes off the street.
"It's been tough, it still is. It's been a lot of sleepless nights. It's been a lot of pain," said his brother Ken Vick.
Others included Jennifer Silvera and her two children. Her husband, Lino Lakes, Minn., Ofc. Shawn Silvera was run over by Steven Stanke, 27, of Sioux Falls, S.D. Stanke was fleeing police in a stolen vehicle. Silvera was trying to lay down tire-flattening devices on Interstate 35 to stop him.
"It's very important for me to bring them to things like this where they can pay tribute to their father," Jennifer Silvera said. "This is how they're going to meet him; this is how they're going to get to know what a man of character and integrity he was."
The time for remembrance is not lost on families, particularly around the holidays.
"When you get to Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially law enforcement survivors and families, that really becomes acute when you notice you're missing someone," said Paul Gertsen, president of Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS).
The group urges individuals to place a blue candle in their windows as a sign of support for law enforcement officers.
"I think it's a wonderful way for our society to take a look at the daily sacrifices that they make and their bravery and putting their life on the line," said Silvera.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
