"We missed doing the right thing" by not recognizing Vaird more, said Officer Kimberly Byrd, a founder of the Vaird Foundation, which runs mentoring and college assistance programs. "We're going to start doing the right thing today."
The foundation, created three years ago, has distributed $4,000 in college aid; mentoring is for people interested in law enforcement careers.
For 10 years after Vaird's death, no Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed while responding to a call. Since 2006, six have died after being shot. On Wednesday, an off-duty officer, 23-year-old Martin Campbell, was shot in his left leg.
To some, honoring Vaird is more important now than ever.
"It keeps our morale up," said Sgt. Kenyatta Lee, who was training to become an officer when Vaird was killed. "It lets us know that your family is always protected, God forbid, if you make the ultimate sacrifice."
Vaird, a 43-year-old single mother of two boys, was an assistant to special-education teachers at Pickett Middle School in Germantown before becoming a police officer in 1986.
She was known for her sense of humor and for mentoring new officers.
"Laurie was the first one that welcomed me," said Crystal Williams, then a rookie officer and now a homicide detective.
Williams was recovering from surgery in 1996 when she heard that a woman from the 25th District had been shot. Friends and family called to find out if Williams was the victim.
Instead, it was Vaird, who was shot by a gunman waiting behind a door as she entered a PNC Bank on Rising Sun Avenue during a holdup.
"I remember that as if it was yesterday - and then she was gone," Williams said.
Retired Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, who helped start the Vaird Foundation, said at yesterday's event that more is done to honor officers killed on duty today.
Vaird is due the same respect despite the years that have passed, he said.
