By Lea Kahn
The Lawrence Township Police Department’s Police Unity Tour team was honored by Township Council Tuesday night, one week before the seven team members join other police departments and embark on a 320-mile bicycle ride between East Hanover and Washington, D.C.
Township Council issued a proclamation acknowledging the team, which will begin the trek May 9 and peddle until it reaches the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum in nation’s capital on May 12. A candlelight vigil is planned for May 13 at the museum.
The team includes Patrol Officers Thomas Everist, Sean Kerins, Suzanne Girard and Kelly Longo, Sgt. Christopher Longo, Detective Joseph Lech IV and retired Police Officer Edmund Budzinski.
Mayor Greg Puliti read the proclamation, which “hereby proclaim(s) Council’s gratitude and wishes for a safe and successful event to the Lawrence Township Police Department Police Unity Tour team for its participation in the 2011 Police Unity Tour.”
”Law enforcement officers across the nation at every moment place their own lives at risk to fulfill their sworn oath ‘protect and serve,’ and there are law enforcement officers who make the ultimate sacrifice giving their lives in the line of duty to protect the communities they serve,” the proclamation read.
The proclamation noted that the Police Unity Tour began in 1987 with 18 riders from the Florham Park (N.J.) Police Department and now includes more than 1,200 riders nationwide that ride to commemorate the lives and service of officers who have died in the line of duty.
The goal of the bicycle ride, which is timed to coincide with National Law Enforcement Officers Week, is to raise awareness of the police officers that have died in the line of duty.
The secondary purpose is to raise money for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum in Washington, which bears the names of nearly 19,000 police officers who have died in the line of duty since the first recorded police officer’s death in 1792.
So far this year, 67 police officers including two in New Jersey have died, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum’s website, www.nleomf.org. Of that total, 33 police officers were killed by gunfire, 17 died in motor vehicle accidents and 17 died from other causes.
Patrolman Everist thanked Township Council for its support and for the proclamation Tuesday night. He pointed out that 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The attacks killed 71 New York Police Department police officers and a 72nd police officer who was flying on Flight 93 when it crashed.
The Police Unity Tour participants will make a special stop at Ground Zero in Manhattan to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks. They will ride through the Holland Tunnel, which will be closed to traffic, to reach the site and then embark on the rest of the tour.
Meanwhile, the Lawrence Police Department’s seven-member team has raised $13,800 toward the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial and Museum, Patrolman Everist said. The goal was to raise $15,000. The team has been supported by many people, he said, adding that “the proclamation means so much to us.”

