Sitting at home or in a restaurant many people hear the sounds of their community outside the front door.

One of those sounds is often a police car’s siren. For most, the sound blends into a soundtrack for suburban life. For others it means a valued member of the community or loved one is in danger.

“I don’t think that people appreciate that (police officers) have to wear a bullet-proof vest to work everyday,” said Kirkland resident and author Stacey Sanner about the day-to-day life of a police officer. “They are undervalued just like teachers and nurses.”

In 2009, five Puget Sound police officers were killed in the line of duty. Not by crossfire or someone just shooting to get away from the law, but murdered for protecting the public.

Those incidents sparked an outpouring of support and appreciation from every community in Western Washington. Like the sounds of suburban life, that appreciation faded into the background.

But those shootings set Sanner on a mission.

“I too wanted to do something to pay tribute to those officers and their families,” said Sanner. “I wanted to pay tribute to their families and all the officers for their daily sacrifice. After the murderers I got the idea that this was what I needed to do.”

Sanner embarked on a labor of love, heartache and sacrifice of her own in photographing, writing and publishing her book “Keeping a blue light on: A citizen’s tribute to the Seattle Police Department,” which she will be signing at Parkplace Books in Kirkland at 7 p.m. on Nov. 30.

The book is full of interviews and portraits of Seattle police officers from every department.

Sanner wanted to tell their stories, from the heartache of investigating a murder, to officers who go beyond the badge to make a difference in the community, to what makes a person want to become a police officer. Some of the stories are funny, dramatic and some inspiring, said Sanner.

“I don’t think the average person can comprehend what they see,” said Sanner, a former freelance journalist. “The images they take home. Many of them talked about holding someone while they take their last breath … It is also the little acts of kindness that don’t make the news.”

Sanner talked to a person from every department of the Seattle force. One of those officers is Britt Sweeney, who was in the squad car with her partner, officer Timothy Brenton, when he was murdered by Christopher Monfort.

“I was pretty paranoid,” Sweeney recalled in the book. “I wouldn’t go anywhere without being armed. The first time I left the house without my Glock on my hip, I was just going to Starbucks for coffee, I sat there for a minute and the phone rang. It was one of the chiefs calling me. He asked if I was okay and had I heard about the officers in Lakewood. The whole world of emotions, of course, came back up.”

The four Lakewood officers had been killed while sitting in a coffee shop.

One of the places that Sanner got the idea for the book was the Bridle Trails’ Ace Hardware.

“I saw the story in the Kirkland Reporter and heard on the radio the store selling blue lights to support local police,” said Sanner of the Reporter’s December 2009 story. The store was the first in the Puget Sound to sell blue lights for people to put in the window of their home after the incident in Lakewood.

The store donated $2 from the sale of each bulb to the fund of the officers’ families.

“It was so unique. That was the reason I chose the name of the book,” said Sanner, who has no family connections to law enforcement.

“I want to keep that light on every day all year long.”

The Bridle Trails’ Ace Hardware is also selling the book. All the proceeds from the book go towards the Seattle Police Foundation, which was set up after 9/11 so the public could support the department and officers’ families.

Sanner’s dedication to the project was unyielding.

“I did a year’s worth of work in six months,” said Sanner, who gave up her job in public relations consulting, used her own money to produce the book and will not take a penny from the proceeds. “My hope is that by reading these stories people will come away with a more intimate understanding of what it means to be an officer.”

Sanner got a little more than she could handle with some of the stories. Some kept her up at night.

“The one that sticks with me is the Goldmark murders,” said Sanner, who interviewed the Detective on the case, Robert Shilling. “A family of four was brutally murdered on Christmas Eve. He said what struck him was that it was so festive. The smell of ham permeated the air. But then he heard the father moaning from upstairs.”

The scene was gruesome and heartbreaking.

“The impact on them is profound,” said Sanner, who lived in New York during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “You can feel the emotion. He told me that is what he remembers every Dec. 24 at 7:32 p.m. He said ‘That is what Christmas means to me.’”

Other stories tell of an officer working overtime to help a homeless family get off the streets.

Sanner wanted all of the locations for the photos to mean something to the officer. Her 20 years of studying photography at places such as the International Center for Photography in New York and Photography Center Northwest is evident.

Getting the book started was not easy. She sent a letter to the department requesting the interviews.

“Ninety-nine percent of requests like this are turned down,” said Sanner. “I just wanted to tell their stories and I had a plan.”

The result was many officers stepping forward to participate.

“Police officers don’t like talking about themselves,” said Sanner. “But they knew I just wanted to tell their stories and had no intension of profiting from it.”

Sanner’s journey will soon come full circle. Along with the book being sold at the Ace Hardware, she will do a book signing at Parkplace Books in Kirkland on Nov. 30.

The date is significant because it is two years to the day that Maurice Clemmons, the man who killed the four Lakewood officers, was killed by police in south Seattle.

Sanner wants to do more books on other departments in the area or even on returning veterans. But for now she is happy with the response she is getting from this book.

“My goal was to see the person behind the uniform,” said Sanner. “My mother now says that when she hears those sirens she thinks about the person in the patrol car.”