Jacob Farmer / For Nisqually Valley News
Brian Johnston considers it one of the most beautiful views in the state.
The Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial, sitting at the base of the Temple of Justice on the Capitol Campus, overlooks Capitol Lake, Budd Inlet and the Lower Puget Sound.
As the executive director of Behind the Badge Foundation, the memorial’s moral and financial caretaker, Johnston knows the work that went into funding and building the celebrated granite structure.
The memorial, which is nearing the 20th anniversary of its dedication in May 2026, honors law enforcement officers who died serving the state, including those from local, county, state, and federal organizations, as well as some military police and verified railroad police.
Johnston, a retired sergeant who served with the Monroe Police Department for his entire 36-year career, has been with the foundation since just after its inception some 30 years ago.
In the beginning, the objective was simple.
“We started with the sole goal of building the official Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial on the Capitol Campus in Olympia,” Johnston said.
It wasn’t easy. According to Johnston, the grassroots organization struggled to secure funding, despite a willingness to test different strategies.
Spaghetti feeds gave way to tip-a-cops gave way to galas.
“The price of building the memorial just always kind of outpaced us,” Johnston said.
The organization stayed creative. In 2004, the state’s government passed legislation authorizing Law Enforcement Memorial license plates, with funds going to Behind The Badge Foundation.
In 2005, the plates were introduced for sale.
The influx of funding, along with support from a number of benefactors, including Bruce McCaw, took the memorial from a hypothetical to a sudden reality.
Behind the Badge Foundation also benefited from its relationship with both the state Department of Enterprise Services (DES) and the governor’s office.
At first, the organization envisioned the campus’s rose garden as its site for the memorial, until former Gov. Gary Locke suggested they build it on the hill climb overlooking Capitol Lake.
Back then, the hill was “just bramble,” according to Johnston, and could have “come down at any time.”
Former Gov. Christine Gregoire later supported the idea when she took office.
“And so the state did a lot of work prior to our own building to stabilize that slope,” Johnston said.
That work, according to the foundation’s website, began in 2005, and included the building of a retaining wall, landscaping to the hill, and the creation of a walkway for pedestrian access.
Only when they finished construction, Johnston said, did they truly understand the solemnity of the location, which he considers “hallowed ground” at the base of the Temple of Justice.
“So we felt like we fit not just into the architecture of the Capitol Campus but the natural beauty of the state of Washington — and in the actual, exact, right place,” Johnston said.
According to Johnston, DES continues to maintain the memorial through its contract with the foundation. Specialty repairs require outside vendors.
Today, the memorial includes the engraved names of 346 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty. The oldest name belongs to Deputy Marshal James Parsons of the Centralia Police Department, who died in a gunfight in 1903.
As the foundation looks to its next 20 years, Johnston wants to ensure the memorial looks “as beautiful and as pristine as it did on the day that it was dedicated.”
The executive director considers it a core promise of the foundation.
“And we are very proud of the fact that we have made this promise,” Johnston said. “We absolutely made a promise to our survivors, to those individuals who are represented on the memorial that we honor, and to the state of Washington that that memorial would look beautiful, and we feel very confident that we’ve fulfilled that promise and we will continue to fulfill that promise in perpetuity.”
While the official rededication ceremony is currently scheduled for May, Johnston said the foundation will hold a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial on Friday, Dec. 5, at 4 p.m.
“A number of years ago, we decided that there was a need to have a space to recognize the loss of our officers during the holiday months,” Johnston said about the ceremony.
The 15-to-20-minute ceremony has grown to include about 100 yearly visitors.
The foundation’s work extends beyond its upkeep of the memorial. Johnston said Behind the Badge offers a variety of programs to law enforcement organizations and families who have lost loved ones in the line of duty, including support for memorial ceremonies.
Johnston said these services are always at the direction of the family and feature close cooperation with the specific department involved.
“Since we’ve been providing these types of services, no financial obligation has ever been passed on to a family member for a line-of-duty death service in our history,” Johnston said.
The foundation follows up with long-term financial or counseling services and provides opportunities for family members to gather in like groups, sometimes between spouses, sometimes between children, in order to create support structures from within.
Johnston said the foundation has even sponsored fishing trips for children who have lost parents in the line of duty. Those trips, according to Johnston, are typically skippered by adult men who are mostly law enforcement officers.
The foundation actively supports current law enforcement officers, too.
“Police officers, law enforcement officers, correctional officers, first responders, are confronted with far more traumatic situations than most people,” Johnston said.
Because of this, the foundation provides wellness outreach to officers and organizations, including training for peer support and posttraumatic stress disorder awareness.
To learn more about Behind the Badge Foundation, its comprehensive services and upcoming events, visit https://behindthebadgefoundation.org.
