The Washington Police Department has been shining the spotlight on its officers for National Police Week.

The department has been posting photos and bios for each of their officers on their Facebook page, which Chief Jim Lester says was inspired by the feedback received from their community input survey they conducted earlier this year and discussions with their police community advisory committee on how to better engage with the community, “Like I’ve told the city council and told the community several times before, we’ve got a great police department. The officers here are professional, they’re dedicated to their community, they do an awesome job communicating with the public and responding to the calls for service. They handle crisis incidents, they do an excellent job with those responses, and I couldn’t work with a better group of guys.”

Tomorrow is Peace Officer Memorial Day, and Lester plans on unveiling a plaque to be displayed in their office this June to honor two law enforcement officers that died in the line of duty on June 25th, 1930. Washington City Marshal Aaron Bailey and Washington County Sheriff William Sweet were shot after arresting a man for stealing a car in Ottumwa. Washington was also the hometown of FBI Special Agent Terry Anderson who was killed in 1966 while rescuing a kidnapped 17-year-old girl in Pennsylvania in what is known as the Shade Gap Incident.