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ALBANY, GA. -- Ten members of Georgia law enforcement died in the line of duty last year. Today, a traveling memorial wall honoring those fallen officers visited Albany to pay tribute to Dougherty County’s own Lieutenant Cliff Rouse.

Detective Ed Christian says the Moving Police Memorial began as a simple motorcycle ride but has grown into a mission across Georgia. "623 officers have been killed in the line of duty in this state and what we’ve learned is that it’s really important to remember that name," he said.

On Friday, the name ‘Thomas Cliff Rouse’ officially joined those 623 officers on the memorial wall. "It keeps the memory alive," said Christian. "It shows that that officer’s life was important. It’s important to the community. It’s important to the family, and we need to keep it alive."

Rouse’s parents – overcome with emotion – listened as Chief Don Cheek shared memories of his fallen comrade. His mother, Jackie, peeled off the blue tape covering her son’s name.

"The emotions of seeing the name – that he’s not here," she said. "He’s gone. No more happy Mother’s Day. No more happy birthdays. No more merry Christmas. There’s that void there."

She and her husband are proud of Cliff Rouse’s work as an officer but they’re more proud of his role as their son. "We were just ‘Mama’ and ‘Daddy’," she said. "That was it. Mama and Daddy, there when he needed us."

The memorial will move from Albany to Macon to Savannah and end in Atlanta on April 16^th. A disturbing trend is that eight of the ten officers that were killed in the line of duty last year were killed by gunfire.

"The streets are just getting meaner," said Cheek. "When people will shoot and kill a police officer, nobody in the community is safe. This is just an unbelievable tribute not only to Lieutenant Rouse but to all the other officers that have died in the line of duty."