Blue lights honor fallen police officers

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http://www.charleston.net/pub/news/local/bluelight1204.htm

Blue lights honor fallen police officers

Tuesday, December 4, 2001

BY GLENN SMITH

Of The Post and Courier Staff

The holidays are always a time of mixed emotions for North

ton Detective Bill O'Brien.

Amid the Christmas cheer, there is also a pervasive sense of loss.

Less than two weeks before Christmas in 1992, his brother, Highway Patrol

Trooper Hunter O'Brien, was killed in the line of duty when a truck

struck his cruiser in Beaufort County. He was just 24.

As the anniversary of his brother's death approaches, O'Brien finds

some solace whenever he passes a home with a blue light shining in a

window. It is a sign that someone out there remembers.

This holiday season, people across the nation are being encouraged

to display blue lights as a tribute to police officers killed in the line

of duty and to honor those who still serve. The effort is known as

" Project Blue Light. "

" It shows community support for law enforcement and it makes the

survivors feel like the loss of their loved one wasn't in vain, " O'Brien

said. " It shows that people do actually appreciate it. "

Project Blue Light began in 1989 when a Philadelphia woman placed

blue lights in her window in memory of her daughter, who had recently

died in a car accident, and her son-in-law, a police officer who died in

the line of duty in 1986. The idea caught on and spread across the

nation.

O'Brien and others are trying to generate more participation in the

Lowcountry. Though the idea isn't new, he suspects many people have never

heard of Project Blue Light.

Sally Guerry, president of the South Carolina chapter of Concerns of

Police Survivors, said she hopes the effort will benefit from the greater

attention paid to the work of police and firefighters since the Sept. 11

terrorist attacks. Her organization, which assists the surviving families

of fallen officers, is also encouraging people to tie blue ribbons on

their car antennas as a tribute to those who have died.

Guerry said such simple displays make a big difference to the

officers' families. Her husband, town police Maj. Spencer Guerry,

died in 1994 after a man shot him during a traffic stop.

" It gives you a warm feeling when you see (the blue lights), " she

said. " It's very comforting to know people care. "

Glenn covers police and crime. Contact him at 937-5556 or at

gsmith@....