This is the time of year when we begin to think about unraveling the miles of tangled Christmas lights and dragging out the ladder to decorate our homes for the Christmas season. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to solicit your consideration of incorporating “Project Blue Light” by placing a single blue bulb in your Christmas decorations which will be visible from outside; wherever you so choose: in your candle, wreath, yard luminaries, house lights, etc.

The time-honored tradition of “Project Blue Light” has been in existence since the late ‘80's. It started as a way of paying tribute to a police officer felled in the line of duty. The tradition commenced when Mrs. Dolly Craig, the mother-in-law of Philadelphia Police Officer Danny Gleason (who was shot and killed on June 5, 1986 while investigating a vandalism report), contacted the Concerns of Police Survivors “COPS” organization in 1988 and told them that she was going to pay tribute to Danny by placing a blue light in the window of her home (as well as another for her daughter, Pam who followed him in death as a result of a car accident in August 1988). Mrs. Craig wrote, “This holiday I’m putting two blue lights in my living room window. One is for Dan and the other is for Pam, who believed so much in the COPS Organization.”

Word spread of this tradition and others have likewise adopted this manner of showing their appreciation of ALL police officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Since there is more than enough appreciation to go around, this symbolic gesture has been extended to include the working peace officers, on the streets, in jails, in uniform, plain clothes or shrouded in disguise. Mrs. Craig has passed on now, but the spark cast by her first blue light has not. It continues to intensify and garner support. Now, each year, we see thousands of blue lights, symbolic for both the support of peace officers as well as the hope for peace in the following year, displayed throughout the country in the windows of homes, businesses and churches.

In reflection, I recall our own fallen heroes: Aldo Rossi, Inv. Ricky Parisian, Constable Norm Carr and others too, who have died in the line of duty.