National Police Memorial

On a small patch of grassland, at the corner of The Mall and Horse Guards Road, stands the National Police Memorial. It was the first memorial to be placed in St James's Park in over a century.

On April 17, 1984, WPC Yvonne Fletcher was fatally wounded by a gunshot, fired from an unknown gunman in the Libyan Embassy, on St James's Square. Her murder sparked an eleven-day siege of the Embassy which, when it ended, resulted in the expulsion of those inside the building and the severing of diplomatic ties between the United Kingdom and Libya. 

Following her murder the film director Michael Winner founded the Police Memorial Trust. At first the Trust erected small monuments at the locations where Police Officers had lost their lives, but they wanted something more.

From the mid 1990s they lobbied and raised funds for a permanent memorial to all officers who had died in the course of their duties. Michael Winner gifted £500,000 to the fund, stating, "Memorials to soldiers, sailors and airmen are commonplace, but the police fight a war with no beginning and no end."

Despite objections, before its construction, from the London Historic Parks Group and the local residents' association, the memorial was given the go ahead after nearly ten years of campaigning.

In 2002, Westminster Council granted planning permission for the memorial, which would be designed by Norman Foster and Per Arnoldi. In 2004, a ground-breaking ceremony took place with Prime Minister Tony Blair, Michael Winner, and officers from the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police. These two forces had the highest number of officers killed in the line of duty.

The memorial was expected to cost £2.3 million, but ended up coming in £400,000 below budget, with many workers offering their services for free.

On April 26, 2005, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy unveiled the memorial. Fifty six officers wearing the uniforms of each of the United Kingdom's Police Forces provided a guard of honour, at the ceremony. During the ceremony Queen Elizabeth stated, "It is surely appropriate that this should be positioned in The Mall. An area of London so often associated with our national way of life. When people pass by the memorial, I hope they will pause and reflect on the proud traditions that it represents. The courage and personal sacrifice recorded here will, I am certain, serve as an inspiration to us all."

The Memorial

The memorial consists of two separate pieces standing on a Purbeck stone floor.

The first is a large black rectangular enclosure that stands atop a ventilation shaft for the Bakerloo line trains that trundle beneath this spot. The enclosure contains a 'Roll of Honour', viewed through a glass window, that shows the names of those officers lost on the particular day. It contains some 4,000 names, the earliest of which is that of Isaac Smith, a Watchman in the City of London, who died of injuries sustained in 1680. 

This side of the block is engraved with the police 'Badge of Office' and inscribed with the words "The National Police Memorial: Honouring Those Who Serve". 

The rest of the enclosure is covered with Parthenocissus, a climbing plant in the grape variety.

The second part of the memorial consists of a glass column, illuminated internally by fibre optic cables that produce a faint blue light, symbolising the 'Blue Lamp' that traditionally hung outside police stations. 

The column, which stands in a reflecting pool, is 7.4 metres (24 ft) high and consists of 622 stacked sheets of glass.

Controversy

Families of officers killed in the line of duty criticised that the 'Roll of Honour' only lists officers killed during arrests or as a result of criminal acts, rather than ALL officers killed in the line of duty.

Some Irish Republicans criticised the 'Roll of Honour' for listing members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, that were killed during 'The Troubles'.