The fathers of murdered Greater Manchester PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone are to launch a £4.5m national memorial to all police officers and staff killed in the line of duty.
Bryn Hughes and Paul Bone will take part in a traditional ground-breaking ceremony at the site of the UK Police Memorial.
It will stand at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire, and commemorate all personnel who have lost their lives since the 1749 formation of the first professional police force, the Bow Street Runners.
Nicola, 23, from Saddleworth, Oldham, and Fiona, 32, from Sale, Trafford, died at the hands of killer Dale Cregan in a gun and grenade ambush after they were lured to a house in Mottram in Longdendale, Tameside, on September 18, 2012.
The physical memorial, due to be completed next year, will complement an existing online digital memorial, launched in November last year, to the more than 4,200 officers and police staff who have died on duty.
Sir Hugh Orde, chairman of the Police Arboretum Memorial Trust, said: "The National Memorial Arboretum is the place where all our services are remembered throughout the year.
"A place where people come for quiet acts of contemplation and reflection and a place where large-scale acts of remembrance take place.
"Yet there is no fitting tribute here that honours those brave men and women from our police service who have given their lives to protect us all - a tribute that is in keeping with the scale of loss that our police service has suffered over the years.
"Today is the day that we change that.
"How fitting that today's ground-breaking will be carried out by Paul Bone and Bryn Hughes, whose daughters were shot and killed whilst responding to a routine 999 call, eight years ago.
"When we set out on this ambitious project in 2015 we had no idea how challenging it would be.
"Along the way we have overcome many hurdles and setbacks."
Speaking at the launch of the digital police memorial in 2019, Nicola's father Bryn said: "We cannot change what has happened, all we can do is remember the sacrifice that these officers, including my daughter Nicola, have made and honour their memory by supporting this memorial.
"As a proud parent watching your child swear the oath of allegiance you never expect to read your child's name on a memorial dedicated to police officers killed on duty.
"I myself do not need a memorial to remember Nicola, she lives on in my heart and in my memory forever.
"But it is important that members of the public have memorials such as this to allow them to reflect, remember and honour those we have lost."
Cregan was sentenced to a whole life tariff in 2013 for the murders of Nicola and Fiona, as well as the murders of David Short, 46, and his son Mark, 23.
Already a wanted fugitive after their murders, Cregan dialled 999 to make a bogus report concerning a property on Abbey Gardens and lured officers in.
He then drove to hand himself in at a police station.
The murders of the officers shocked the country and their funerals were held on consecutive days at Manchester Cathedral, with much of the city centre coming to a standstill.
