The thousands of memorial items left outside Dallas Police Department Headquarters after the ambush that left five officers dead are now being sorted at the Dallas Public Library on Young Street.
"It's absolutely emotional," said Dallas Public Library Director Jo Giudice. "It's overwhelming because you feel so much love that everybody has left."
There are stuffed animals, posters, letters, cards, crosses, T-shirts, hats, flags with written messages and police badges from around the world.
"The shoulder badges that go on the uniforms of officers, so they've left them here and they come from all over," Giudice said. "The furthest away we've had is from Australia."
The memorial items were collected Friday morning, but thousands more have been left since then.
The rest will be taken up Tuesday evening, and after being sorted with the others, taken back to DPD headquarters to an extended private viewing for Dallas police officers.
"(So they can) look at the signs, look at the drawings that the kids have left for them and really just have a moment to just grieve," Giudice said. "And I hope heal by reading all these words off love."
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Any item with the name of one of the fallen officers will be offered to his family.
"Anything that came in fives, we're just assuming that they want each family to have one of those and we'll make sure that they get to them," Giudice said.
Cards left with real flowers will be saved, but the flowers themselves will be turned into mulch for use in city parks.
"It's been very emotional, we've been hugging each other a lot like everybody has been doing in the city," Giudice said.
The library will store and care for those items not kept by either the police department or families.
The public may get a chance to see some of the items again in November, when the library is planning a photo exhibit from the July 7 shooting.
Specific arrangements for DART memorial items left at DPD headquarters are still pending.
