AMY SZPARA

LAPLACE – It will be a place to visit and remember the brave officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. This will be a place where children can learn about the sacrifices of police heroes and where pictures of the faces of those who have served and died are displayed on the walls. The building will be the first of its kind in the state. A man on a mission, Lt. Wayne Norwood of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office, is working hard to bring the Louisiana Law Enforcement Memorial Center and Museum to the people of the state. It is a dream that Norwood has carried with him since early in his law enforcement career, and he has worked hard to get the project going. Already finished with the first phase of the project, which included a lot of paperwork and getting non-profit status, Norwood is ready to move on to phase two, finding the property for the building. Norwood has already spent $3,000 of his own money in preparations for the project. The entire project will probably cost about $2 million, which will have to be raised. LaPlace attorney Fred DeFrancesch has volunteered his legal services to Norwood for the project. Norwood would like to purchase property in Tangipahoa Parish because two interstates cross there, and it is a central location between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The center will take up two acres of land. Already prepared by The Front Door, an architectural firm in Baton Rouge, the floor plans for the proposed center include a museum, photo gallery of lost officers, memorial hall, outdoor exhibit and a film room. The center itself will be 15,000 square feet. In preparing for the project, Norwood visited similar memorial centers similar in Florida and Tennessee and the national center in Washington, D.C. “I took ideas from all of them to develop one plan for the memorial center and museum here,” said Norwood. He hopes school children will visit the museum portion of the center and look at displays of drugs and weapons and learn the dangers of them. The films will educate kids against those dangers. “It will press on their minds and teach them to be better citizens. I think it will be a real educational thing for young people,” said Norwood. One major difference between the center Norwood is planning to construct and the ones he visited is that the one in Louisiana would not only list the names of officers killed in the state, but will also show their pictures and tell how they were killed. “It’s more personal if they can see their picture. They can say, Look, he was only 23 years old.’ We want it to be more personal,” Norwood said. The center will be free to police officers, and the public will have to pay a small fee that will go to the upkeep of the building. “If I can get it built, I think people will be interested,” Norwood added. Anyone who would like to help or who wants more information can call Norwood at 225-294-2863 or 985-652-7058.