Law enforcement agencies from across Bell County paused to remember fallen officers as a part of National Police Week.
"How do we honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice?" Dan Snow of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. "These events are traumatic, they're devastating, they're life-changing."
Bell County Sheriff Eddy Lange said that during his short tenure as sheriff, six officers have lost their lives. He said he had to go to his first law enforcement funeral after he had been sheriff for less than a year.
Bell County law enforcement agencies gathered outside the Harker Heights Police Department to remember Texas officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice over the past year.
"There were 16 officers who lost their lives in Texas last year. There were 135 police officers in the United States," Phil Gadd, the Chief of Police for Harker Heights, said.
Lange read each officer's name and the date of their final watch as members of the honor guard pinned a rose in their honor.
"The moment we get in the car and go out on patrol, maybe our last day... we just don't know," Sheriff Lange added.
It was an emotional morning for every officer there, especially those from the Harker Heights Police Department as they specifically remembered two of their own who were killed in the line of duty.
Officer Carl Levin was killed in 1978 after being shot by an arson suspect.
And in 2010, Officer Andrew Rameas was killed after he was hit by a car that was cutting through a funeral procession he was escorting.
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