The Honorable Steve Largent of the Code 3 Board of Directors, presents Sen. Lindsey Graham with the Code 3 Heroes Award, Sen. Graham is one of four recipients of this honor this year.
WASHINGTON, DC – Code 3 today presented its inaugural “Hero Awards” recognizing outstanding advocacy on behalf of police officers severely injured in the line of duty to four lawmakers and law enforcement officials in the nation’s capital.
“In the absence of a federally mandated minimum standard of care for police injured in the line of duty, benefits available to disabled officers vary greatly from state to state, and are often insufficient to manage long-term healthcare costs and ensure a reasonable quality of life post-injury,” said Dale Sutherland, founder and president of Code 3. “We are proud to recognize individuals who have gone above and beyond to raise awareness of systemic gaps in our nation’s broken benefits system for injured officers and work towards legislative solutions.”
Recipients of this year’s Hero Awards include:
- Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), cosponsors of the Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) Reauthorization Act, which would reauthorize the COPS program through fiscal year 2023, providing $400 million annually for state and local law enforcement agencies
- Retired Lieutenant Will Rogers of the South Carolina Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department who suffered permanent brain damage after being shot in the head while on duty during an armed robbery in 2014
- Former Detective Lani Jackson-Pinkney of the DC Metropolitan Police Department who was permanently disabled after being shot in the line of duty in 1995 while responding to a carjacking
Code 3 continues to work with members of Congress and other nonprofit organizations to ensure that police officers severely injured in the line of duty have access to adequate benefits. For more information on our work to support police injured in the line of duty, visit www.code3forchange.org/helpingourheroes.
About Code 3
Founded in 2015, Code 3 is a nonprofit organization that advocates for police officers injured in the line of duty, works with cops and communities to address the nation’s growing opioid epidemic and engages cops and citizens in community outreach. With decades of experience in law enforcement and community affairs, we serve as connectors between cops and the communities they serve, breaking down barriers and creating new opportunities to advance solutions to local challenges. For more information, visit www.code3forchange.org.
