Cold Spring-Richmond Group Heading to Washington to Honor Officer Tom Decker [AUDIO]

COLD SPRING - A group of 31 people from the Cold Spring-Richmond area are getting ready to go to Washington, D.C. to honor fallen police officer Tom Decker.  Next week is National Police Officer's Memorial Week.

Police Chief Phil Jones says two officers are leaving today (Friday), and will be driving everyone's luggage out there.

The rest of the group will board a coach bus in downtown Cold Spring at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.  They'll get a police escort down to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, with multiple departments joining the escort along the way.  They'll also get a Honor Guard escort through the airport.  Jones says they get similar escorts once they land at Reagan National Airport.  He says it was a big challenge to get everyone on the same plane.

The group is made-up of officers from the Cold Spring-Richmond police department, their spouses, Officer Decker's widow Alicia Decker, and other members of the Decker family.

Jones says there are so many events planned for the week that they had to pick and choose what to attend.  Two events they'll be going to are a candlelight vigil on Monday night, and the 32nd annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. on the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol.  There will be a wreath laying ceremony after the service.

Jones says there's a huge memorial for the fallen officers with all of their names on it.

Decker's name will be included on the memorial by the time they get there.

Jones says it's taken a lot of time and effort to organize the trip to Washington.  He says there will be a lot of emotion for everyone too.

The group is expected to fly back to Cold Spring and Richmond on Saturday morning.

There were 127 officers who were killed in the line of duty in 2012.

Cold Spring-Richmond Police Office Tom Decker was shot and killed in the line of duty on November 29th.  The case is still considered an active investigation.   A man who was considered a person of interest in the case killed himself before officers could question him.