It was hard to decide which was more haunting: the mournful wail of a bagpipe being played from the balcony of Historic Courthouse, or the exhaustive reading of 133 names of law enforcement and corrections officers killed nationally in the line of duty in 2014.

The recent memorial ceremony to honor fallen officers drew more than 100 men and women in uniform, and dozens of other officers in plain clothes, to acknowledge the difficult work that they do. Eight law enforcement officers who were residents of Washington County have been killed while on duty — the most recent being Joseph Bergeron, a Maplewood police officer shot to death in an ambush in 2010.