Maricopa County Sheriff's Office honors fallen officers in Downtown Phoenix

A busy downtown Phoenix intersection was closed for part of Friday morning.

The sound of traffic was replaced with patriotism and pride for the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

"This is an event that is important to everybody in this office and this organization annually just so we can honor those people and their family," Deputy Lt. Cory Morrison said.

Deputies, detention officers, civilian staff and their families joined Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone for the 16th Annual Memorial Tribute Ceremony, which honored the 18 members of MCSO who lost their lives since 1922.

"It's important for moral for that sense of unity to remember why we are on this mission, that it stands for something greater," Sheriff Penzone said. "It's critical, it's critical for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to just know that we stand united in the most challenging times."

A 21-gun salute honored the flag and the fallen.. brothers and sisters who worked for every local and state agency and protected and served.

"Law enforcement as a whole is like a big family, so as we go through history and we talk about the situations that these individuals were involved in, the situations where these individuals lost their lives, we can all relate to those situations and it always just kind of brings it home," Morrison said.