Paul F. Walsh, Jr.

Why We Do What We Do

ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2004, the memorial for prosecutors killed in the line of duty was unveiled at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina.

In attendance were family members of those fallen prosecutors accompanied by more than two hundred other prosecutors attending the NDAA Fall Conference. We all paid tribute to those who paid the ultimate price and gave the last full measure of devotion, so that their fellow citizens could live safely in their communities.

It is my strong belief that prosecutors are heroes. When individuals are victimized, when gunfire erupts on our streets, when drugs and gangs threaten the safety of our neighborhoods and our communities, our fellow citizens turn to us. We, the prosecutors of America, put ourselves in harm's way. We stand between the criminal and his victim; between those who would terrorize and intimidate those who desire to live safe, happy and free.

Prosecuting crime is far more than going to court and moving cases; it is standing up for personal safety and personal freedoms. Because if a community cannot be safe, its people can never, ever, be free.

We owe a large debt of gratitude to those prosecutors who gave their lives so that others might live safely and freely. We owe it to them, and we owe it to their families to fall in and carry on the great and noble example they set for us -- to proudly carry on their commitment; to be the heroes of the American justice system; to be America's prosecutors.