LightWild Lights "Thin Blue Line" of the Peace Officers Memorial in St. Paul

More than 30 narrow LightWild Tiles are used in makeover of Minnesota memorial

Oct. 21, 2008

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — LightWild today announced it has completed the LED in-grade lighting for the "Thin Blue Line" on the Peace Officers Memorial in St. Paul, MN.

The memorial, which is located on the State Capitol Mall, was conceived by Jim Crawford, then Chief of Police in Golden Valley, Minnesota. The Minnesota Law Enforcement Memorial Association (LEMA) was founded with the sole purpose of building a memorial to Minnesota peace officers who have died in the line of duty. The memorial was originally erected in 1977 in the main concourse of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The memorial is now the centerpiece of the state capitol grounds where it was moved in 1995.

The "Thin Blue Line" is a phrase known worldwide by Police Officers which denotes the separation of lawful society and unlawful society or chaos. To achieve the dramatic lighted blue line, lighting designer, Deb Edwards of Lighting Matters, used thirty-six rectangular LightWild Tiles (2x48 in or 50x1200 mm) installed end-to-end starting at the front of the memorial, up the stairs, across the plaza, under the waterfalls, ending at the back of the memorial. In addition to the LightWild Tiles, blue glass tiles were installed to ensure the "Thin Blue Line" is illuminated day and night.

"It was exciting to find a product that worked after all the years of struggling to find a light that showed blue," says Edwards. "I believed all along that this was the right product and that it looked great, but there was a concern because of the cold, wet Minnesota environment, but it was great to see it installed as a mock-up and the installation went flawlessly."

According to now retired Chief of Police Jim Crawford, " ‘The Thin Blue Line’ is magnificent and truly more dramatic than in previous years." Crawford continues, "Recently the Republican National Convention was in St. Paul and police officers from around the United States came to the memorial and were very impressed. Minnesota is the only memorial that has the ‘Thin Blue Line’ and it is impressive to officers."

Credits:

• Architect: Paul Dahlberg, AIA. Dahlberg Architects.
• Light Design: Deb Edwards and Teri LaDouceur. Lighting Matters.
• Photography: John Abernathy. www.abernathyphoto.com