National police memorial unveiled.
Thousands of police officers killed in the line of duty have been honoured with a National Police Memorial in central London, unveiled by the Queen.
The marble and glass column, containing an honour book with the names of 1,600 officers, is positioned in The Mall.
Unveiling the memorial, the Queen said the "courage" of those it represented was an "inspiration" to others.
Designed by architect Norman Foster and artist Per Arnoldi, the tribute is the brainchild of director Michael Winner.
The Queen made a short speech before laying a wreath.
She said: "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 unveiling is the culmination of a 10-year campaign for a monument by Mr Winner, who set up the Police Memorial Trust in the wake of the shooting of WPc Yvonne Fletcher in 1984.
Ms Fletcher was killed while on crowd control duty outside the Libyan Embassy during a demonstration.
Mr Winner said the memorial was a tribute to those who fought a war without end.
Pointing to the names of the 1,600 officers inscribed on the memorial who have been killed since 1900, he said:
"They are the names of officers who were shot, run down, stabbed, blown up, beaten to death or knifed.
"That is what I call the sharp end of the rule of law. It is a grand concept but at the end of the day it boils down to the young men and women on the beat without whom there would be anarchy."
He said the families of those who died, who had felt "unappreciated", were "delighted with the memorial.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, Tory leader Michael Howard and Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy also attended the ceremony.
In a speech, Mr Blair said the memorial was to give thanks for the day-to-day work of the police as well as pay tribute to those who had died.
He said: "Thank you for your courage, thank you for your dedication, thank you for your commitment."
Chris Fox, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it was "fitting" that there was now a national memorial to fallen officers.
The families of all those listed were invited to the ceremony, as was a constable from each force in the UK.
Among those who attended were WPc Fletcher's parents, Tim and Queenie, who paid tribute to their daughter.
Mr Fletcher said: "We know how much the families suffer. Nothing can bring our daughter back but it is very comforting to know that her name is one of those on a memorial here today.
"This will help thousands of people each year remember the dangers the police face during the course of their duties."
Other guests included Karl McCloskey, brother of Pc Ronan McCloskey, who was killed in 1987 as he tried to stop a drunk driver in Willesden, north London.
He said: "Seventeen years later you would think that time heals but it was a very moving ceremony and brought back a lot of the very powerful emotions."
Mr McCloskey was accompanied by his wife, Mary, and the couple's three children.
She said it was "important" for the children, who had never known their uncle, to have the chance to pay tribute to him and the other officers who died at the memorial's unveiling.
She said: "It will be always there for people like these and their families and children to come and view that book and remember those wonderfully brave people who gave their lives so that the rest of us can live in a much safer world."
The National Police Memorial is a memorial in central London, commemorating about 4000 police officers killed in the course of their duties in the United Kingdom. It was designed by Lord Foster of Thames Bank and Per Arnoldi and unveiled in 2005. The Project Architect for Foster was Peter Ridley.
In 1984, following the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher, film director Michael Winner founded the Police Memorial Trust. Initially the Trust concentrated on erecting smaller monuments at the points where officers had died on duty. From the mid-1990s the Trust also lobbied and raised funds for a single, larger scale memorial to commemorate all police officers who had died in the course of their duties. Winner stated that "Memorials to soldiers, sailors and airmen are commonplace, but the police fight a war with no beginning and no end".
Winner donated £500,000 of his own money to the campaign for a national memorial and the remainder of the total cost of £2.3 million was met by a public collection. After a ten-year campaign, Westminster City Council granted planning permission in October 2002.
The Memorial was built to a design by Lord Foster of Thames Bank and Danish designer Per Arnoldi, on the corner of The Mall and Horse Guards Road, directly outside the Old Admiralty Building. The site was occupied at the time by an air shaft on the Bakerloo line of the London Underground.
On 22 July 2004 a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony took place on the site, performed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, Michael Winner, and officers from the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police, representing the two forces with the highest number of officers killed in the line of duty.
The Memorial was formally unveiled on 26 April 2005 by Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair. Michael Howard and Charles Kennedy, the leaders of the UK's other leading political parties at the time, were also present. A guard of honour was provided by 56 officers wearing the uniforms of each of the UK's police forces. The Queen stated that "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."
Despite concerns over the potential cost, construction of the Memorial eventually came in at £400,000 under budget, in part because a number of the contractors concerned carried out their work free of charge.
The Memorial was a winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects award for 2006. Michael Winner publicly voiced some surprise at the structure being included in the "Arts and Leisure" classification.
The Memorial consists of two distinct architectural elements, linked by a terrace of Purbeck stone. A black rectangular creeper-covered enclosure surrounds the air shaft, forming a single block. The northern face of the enclosure is kept free of creepers, and is inscribed with the police badge of office and the text "The National Police Memorial: Honouring Those Who Serve". This face also includes a vitrine in which the Roll of Honour is displayed.
Immediately north of the block, a glass column is sited in a reflecting pool. The column is internally illuminated by fibre optic cables with a faint blue light, symbolising the blue lamp which traditionally hangs outside police stations in the United Kingdom. The column is intended to screen the vitrine from passing traffic on The Mall. The column is 7.4m high, consisting of 622 stacked sheets of glass (a total surface area of 954m2), weighing 28.6 tonnes.
The Memorial contains an inscribed roll of honour behind a glass panel, containing the names of approximately 1600 officers killed whilst on duty, in the course of effecting an arrest or whilst carrying out hazardous duties. The earliest entry is that of an unknown constable killed in 1680. The book is compiled from the approximately 4000 names recorded by the Police Roll of Honour Trust, listing all officers who have died in the line of duty.
The Memorial attracted criticism from some families of officers killed in the line of duty, regarding the high cost, and that the roll of honour lists only those officers killed during arrests or as a result of criminal acts, rather than all officers killed in the line of duty; also that, with the book being behind glass, friends and relatives of the deceased are not able to view the relevant page. Before construction, objections were also raised to the Memorial's construction by the London Historical Parks Group and the local residents' association. Concern was also raised by some Irish republicans that the Memorial includes the names of those RUC officers killed in The Troubles.