By Amy Batista, Special Writer
Local police joined fellow officers from around the state in biking hundreds of miles to the nation’s capital to honor comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice last week during National Police Week.
”The Police Unity Tour provides a very visible display that respectfully honors our brothers and sisters killed in the line of duty,” East Windsor Township Police Department Police Benevolent Association Local 191 President Wayne Hummel said. “It bonds together officers from all over New Jersey, the country and the world to stand together as one unit, in one uniform guaranteeing that the men and women that made the ultimate sacrifice for the communities they served will never be forgotten.”
He said riders form friendships, creating a network that lengthens and strengthens “the thin blue line.”
”The journey concludes as you ride through the Memorial Walls, passing by the more than 20,000 names etched into the stone and you get overcome by emotion,” Officer Hummel said. “The receiving crowd of family and friends, widows and widowers, children and parents of the fallen officers that is there to welcome the 2,000 riders and 200 police motorcycles certainly contributes to those emotions.”
East Windsor Township Police Department Patrol Officer John Bartzak and Patrol Officer David Berez participated in the tour, which made a stop at the Target in East Windsor where officers had a chance to take a break before making their way along Route 130 south towards Washington, D.C. on May 10.
”Patrol Officer Berez has been riding in the Police Unity Tour consistently since 2012 to honor his friend, Trooper First Class Shaft S. Hunter of the Maryland State Police, whose end of watch was May 21, 2011,” Officer Hummel said. “This was Patrol Officer Bartzak’s first year and he was riding to honor the memory of a classmate from the police academy, Police Officer Joseph S. Wargo Jr. from Mt. Arlington Police whose end of watch was Oct. 16, 2011.”
Officer Berez is as an avid cyclist and he felt that this was the best way to honor his friend’s memory.
Officer Patrick P. Montuore, of the Florham Park Police Department, organized the first Police Unity Tour in May 1997 with the hope of bringing public awareness to police officers who have died in the line of duty and to honor their sacrifices, according to the tour’s website. The tour takes place from May 9-12 every year. The tour arrives at the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial on May 12, which is the start of National Police Week. There are many other events throughout Washington, D.C. to celebrate police week as well.
”We are members of Chapter One, which rides from East Hanover starting on Route 10,” Officer Hummel said. “The first day we end in Somerset. The second day we end in Wilmington, Delaware. The third day we end in Annapolis, Maryland and the fourth day at the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial in Washington, D.C.”
He said there are a total of 10 chapters.
”We belong to Chapter One, which is the original chapter and led by Chief Montore, the founder and CEO of the Police Unity Tour,” Officer Hummel said.
He said that the West Windsor Police Department, Lawrence Police Department and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office are also members of Chapter One.
”The other Mercer County agencies, Hamilton Police Department, Ewing Police Department, Princeton Police Department, Hopewell Police Department and Trenton Police Department have broken off a few years back and have joined the newly created Chapter 10,” he said.
He said that the ride is almost 300 miles. Approximately 1,800 riders from across the nation made the trip last week and raised over $1.9 million for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, bringing the tour’s total donations since it started to nearly $18 million, according to the tour’s website.
”Patrol Officer Berez and Patrol Officer Bartzak raised approximately $5,000 combined, along with other members of the Mercer Riders Team, including Lawrence Police Department, to total approximately $14,000,” he said.
The tour’s motto is, “We ride for those who died.”
On average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in the United States every 58 hours. Since the first known line-of-duty death in 1791, more than 20,000 U.S. law enforcement officers have made the ultimate sacrifice, according to the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund website.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation that designated May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that date falls as Police Week. Currently, tens of thousands of law enforcement officers from around the world converge on Washington, D.C. to participate in a number of planned events that honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice, according to its website.
The 27th annual candlelight vigil was held on May 13 at 8 p.m. during which 273 fallen law enforcement officers were to be honored. Included in this list are the names of 117 officers who were killed in the line of duty in 2014 and 156 officers who were killed in prior years but had been forgotten by time until the Memorial Fund’s research staff and a team of dedicated volunteers found record of their law enforcement service. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial will bear the names of 20,538 officers representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, federal law enforcement, and military police agencies — all who have made the ultimate sacrifice during the nation’s history, according to National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Fund website.
An estimated 20,000 people assemble at the memorial grounds in Judiciary Square to watch the candlelight vigil during National Police Week when the names of these fallen officers are formally dedicated. The vigil is streamed free live over the Internet so that people across the country can witness this annual tribute to America’s law enforcement officers. The vigil can be viewed at www.UnitedByLight.org.
”Being part of the Police Unity Tour is an honor and a privilege,” Officer Hummel said. “The minor aches and soreness one gets from riding a bicycle for 300 miles in four days pales in comparison to giving your life serving your community.”
He said that there is no better way to pay tribute to officers killed in the line of duty than to show the world and their families these officers have not been and will never be forgotten.
”The candlelight vigil weighs heavy on the heart as the names of the officers are read, speeches are given by the U.S. attorney general, the secretary of homeland security and Craig Floyd, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Fund and PUT rider, and certainly nothing tugs harder at the heartstrings than when the bagpipes cry with ‘Amazing Grace,’” he said.
He said he has watched a widow stand strong as she embraces her children who lost their father as well as parents console one another as they grieve the unimaginable, having just buried their son or daughter.
”You stand there and think there but for the grace of God go I,” he said. “The Police Unity Tour allows you to be part of the Law Enforcement Community in a way that is larger than oneself, the agency, the county, state or nation,” he said. “It is a bond of police officers from around the world that brings everyone together in one uniform for a single cause, and that is to pay respects to the fallen and their family, both blood and blue.”
East Windsor Township Police Department Chief Harry Marshall said, “I feel that the participation of East Windsor officers in the annual Police Unity Tour is a remarkable deed that showcases their dedication to bringing about awareness to those law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Their commitment to these efforts while helping to raise funds for the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial reflects positively on each of them as individuals as well as the collective group of officers who supported them.”
