Ride for Awareness

The wheels are turning as local police cycle across Illinois in remembrance of their own. The Concerns of Police Survivors group organizes the annual bicycle ride and each year the riders comfort those who have lost a relative or a friend and share in their tragedy. "To come back here, to be here in the same place where Gary Dudley was and Gary Martin were and to go to where they died is just a very powerful," said Officer Mark Hannan. Hannan is referring to last years ride when two officers were struck by a car while biking and killed. Retired officer Spencer Moore gets chocked up thinking about the accident he too was part of. "Its sort of difficult to talk about," he said. Despite initially being short-changed for words, Moore says hes cycling for a thousand miles to draw awareness. "We want to raise money to help the families, scholarships for the kids, counseling for the people going through the tragedy of a loss," he said. But Moore assures today isnt just a day of remembrance. Its also a time to drive home the difficulties of being a cop. "We want to make the public aware of what their sacrifices are, which is very important to us," Moore said. Police officer Steve Trame of The U of I agrees. Thats why hes asking people to help financially and emotionally assist the families of fallen officers any way they can. "Its reassuring to us as police officers to know that if something happens to us, our familys taken care of and we know that this support network will be there for them," he said. Thats why the riders hit the streets every year to remember.