Local police officers pay tribute to fallen officers

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Local Fraternal Order of Police chapters gathered at the South Bend Police Department on Friday to pay tribute to officers who have been killed in the line of duty.

Law enforcement and community members came together for the tribute ceremony to remember and honor the 15 South Bend Police Department and one St. Joseph County Police Department officers who have died while on duty.

“We are never forgetting the legacy that they have, the honor, the prestige of what their loved ones did before us. It’s very humbling to know that I'm following in the footsteps of somebody who never made it home, somebody that I hold up to a great honor to be able to follow in their footsteps. It’s one thing to hold the same badge as they may have worn, it’s a whole other to walk the same streets as they may have,” said Chaplin James Burns, SBPD.