To be eligible the person applying must be the spouse or child, natural or adopted, of a Michigan police officer or fire fighter, who was killed in the line of duty. A child must be less than age 21 at the time of death of the police officer or firefighter.

Further, the deceased police officer must have been a sheriff or sheriff deputy, village or township marshal, a police officer of any city, village, or township, an officer of the state police, or any other police officer trained and certified pursuant to the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards Act.

The deceased firefighter must have been a member, volunteer or paid, of a fire department or other organization that provides fire suppression or other fire-related services, of a city, township, village, or county, which is responsible for extinguishing fires. This does not include a person whose job description, duties, or responsibilities did not include direct involvement in fire suppression.

The death must have been the direct and proximate result of traumatic injury incurred in the line of duty. Traumatic injury is defined as a wound or condition of the body caused by external force, including, but not limited to, an injury inflicted by bullet, explosive, sharp instrument, blunt object, or other physical blow, fire smoke, chemical, electricity, climatic condition, infectious disease, radiation, or bacteria, but excluding injury resulting from stress, strain or occupational disease.