The Reno Arch is blue for the month of May, for the ninth year in a row. It's part of National Law Enforcement Memorial month that kicked off with a ceremony Wednesday evening.
The Borgogonone family stands to remember their loved one. Kara Kelly-Borgognone. She was a highway patrol officer who was hit by an SUV when she responded to a bomb call 11 years ago. “You think you are going to be able to handle it pretty well. But when you get in the moment and they start reading off the names off of the officers who lost their lives in the line of duty….it kind of brings up those feeling again,” said her husband Dirk Borgognone.
She was one of the law enforcement officers, who were named at the Nevada Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony. The families were not the only ones to show up, to pay their respects. “My grandfather was an old detective out in Los Angeles. It’s kind of cool to see law enforcement get recognition for what they do from the ceremony,” said Stephen Gill who attended the ceremony.
Law enforcement officers from sheriff's offices, police departments, and highway patrols have all showed up to pay their respects. “It means a lot to me personally. It means a lot to the other officers that are coming through here. And it means a lot to the families coming here as well. It shows as a community how close we are. And how much we work together. Both with the police department and the community in general,” said Reno Police Department Public Information Officer Travis Warren.
As part of the commemoration service, the Reno Arch lights were been switched to blue bulbs. Blue lighting is a tradition started in 1988. Back then, a woman put blue lights in her window to honor her late son-in-law, who was a Philadelphia police officer who died in the line of duty. “Blue is the symbolic color of peace. By lighting a blue light, it is saying to the officers that you wish them safety in the New Year,” said Officer Warren.
The Reno Arch will remain blue, all month.
