By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Two wheels, three days, and $1,600.
Princeton Township Police Officer Chris King has those first two things under control. He needs help on the third.
This May, Officer King will join police officers across the nation in marking National Police Week by participating in the Police Unity Tour, an annual bicycle ride to raise awareness of the police officers who have died in the line of duty.
But first, he needs to raise a minimum of $1,600 to participate in the three-day, two-wheeled trek to Washington D.C.
The funds raised for the Unity Tour go toward the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at Judiciary Square in the nation’s capital.
Officer King said he was first introduced to the event by a fellow officer who took him to the memorial. The next year, he took a guest of his own, and that tradition has continued.
”Everyone I’ve ever taken has always gone from then on,” he said. “Every year it gets bigger. It’s almost like an annual pilgrimage. You take another friend and another friend.”
But while the six-year township officer has wanted to participate in the ride since he first saw the cyclists arrive in Washington, he only made the commitment to take part in the tour this year.
”I’ve been putting this off now for years,” he said. “Every year I go down to the memorial and see the guys on bikes and I say, ‘I really want to do that.’”
As a member of the southern Jersey chapter of the tour, Officer King will depart May 10 — a day earlier than other chapters — and arrive at the memorial on May 12.
The reason for the early departure is to allow extra time to leave from a different site — the Lakewood Police Department — to honor an officer from that department who died in a car accident.
”When you leave from Lakewood, it kind of sets the tone for why you’re there,” Officer King said.
And that reason is to benefit families like that of the Lakewood officer. The money that’s raised through the tour is used by the memorial organization to maintain the wall as well as to provide accommodations and other services for families visiting the site.
”We try to help out by raising money and by raising awareness,” he said, noting that even some cops don’t know about the memorial.
For now, Officer King is focusing on preparing for the ride. Although he’s a member of the township’s bike patrol unit, which is typically deployed during the warmer months, he said he’s a little out of practice when it comes to recreational riding.
”I used to ride a lot,” he said. “(But) I actually had to take my bike out of retirement and dust it off and get it serviced.”
Still, Officer King says he’s definitely in shape for the three-part ride, which covers as much as 80 miles in one day.
”I don’t foresee a lot of problems,” he said, “other than my butt being sore.”
Donations in Officer King’s name can be sent to the southern Jersey Chapter at Police Unity Tour Inc., Chapter Two, P.O. Box 8, Sea Isle City, NJ 08243. Officer King also requests that copies of checks or letters stating how much was donated — so he can track the donations and thank donors — be sent to the Princeton Township Police Department, 1 Valley Road, Princeton, NJ 08542.
