Police sergeant works to remember fallen officers | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Sgt. David Muhl, a 20-year Crofton police veteran, has worked since March 2000 to create the Maryland Fallen Police and Correctional Officers Memorial.

A former member of the Baltimore City and Myrtle Beach, S.C., police departments, he is currently trying to locate a place in Annapolis to build a monument to honor all officers who have died during duty since 1808.

Sgt. Muhl is eyeing a location off of Rowe Boulevard, near the State Archives.

When it is built, the memorial will include at least the officer's name, date of birth and date of death, and possibly the name of their department, their photo, as well as space for personal reflection.

For now, the memorial exists only in tentative blueprints and in cyberspace, www.mdfallenofficers.org, where Sgt. Muhl keeps photos of fallen officers and details about their service, as well as a sketch of what the future memorial will probably look like.

"It was just something I thought was needed to be done. And even my wife will tell you that no one has any idea - except for The Man Upstairs - why I decided to do what I did," he said.

The memorial will honor police officers who were killed in the line of duty, either from a felonious act, accident or health complication caused by their work.

To help advance Sgt. Muhl's efforts, Del. James King, R-Gambrills, has introduced a bill to the General Assembly that will create a task force to build the memorial. If passed, elected state officials, law enforcement officers and members of the Governor's Office will meet to locate a site for the memorial, find funds to build it and design the monument itself, Del. King said.

Families of fallen law officers have been particularly interested, he said.

"There's an overwhelming number of families that I have met with. Their point is fairly simple: 'We just want to have a place where their name can be, and we can remember the folks who have laid their lives down for the state,'" he said.

More information about the Maryland Fallen Police and Correctional Officers Memorial can be found at www.mdfallenofficers.org.