Locals to join Police Unity tour next month
by Carolyn James

Above, Unity Tour heads into Washington DC. Right, member of Tour copies name of fallen Police Officer etched onto Memorial.

On Saturday, May 12, a thousand Police Officers from throughout the country will ride into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C., the end of a bike ride stretching hundreds of miles. The event, the Police Unity Tour, began with 18 police officers who wanted to raise money for a police monument to fallen officers in Washington, is now in its tenth year and has raised $3.2 million.

"I have never been a part of the National ride, but I have been told that there isn't a dry eye in the group as they ride into DC and pass by that memorial," said Amityville Village Police Officer Brian Scott, who is making the trip this year.

Scott, who is the police-trained cross country biker in his department, has been training for the ten-day, 330-mile bike trip, for months along local streets, Bethpage trails and the Woodbury Stillwell Woods. He bikes out to Rocky Point and Yaphank, developing the muscles and stamina needed for the hike that will require that participants maintain a pace of 15 miles per hour throughout the tour.

Also running is West Babylon firefighter and New York City Police Officer Pete McArdle. This will be McArdle's fifth year on the tour.

"It's really an amazing experience," said McArdle in talking about why he has joined the tour every year. "I have spoken to Police Officers from New York to California and every state in between."

McArdle said he trains by taking bike rides out east every weekend, but points out that you don't have to be in "tip top" shape to be a part of the tour.

"It's not a race," he said. "And between the camaraderie and sheer determination, you manage to do it. And, once you get into Washington and see that Memorial, it makes it all worthwhile."

Participants such as Scott and McArdle ask for sponsors to raise money to complete the Memorial naming all of the thousands of police officers across the country who have died in the line of duty, and for building a police museum there. The Police Unity Tour pledged $5 million in support of the National Law Enforcement Museum, inspired by thier Police Unity Tour's motto: We Ride for Those Who Died.

The New York Chapter, of which Scott and McArdle are members, will begin their tour Tuesday May 8 at the World Trade Center with a ceremony. They will travel to New Jersey and hold ceremonies there for police officers who died at the Jersey City Bridge, at Newark and Orange County, New Jersey. From there they will travel to Edison, New Jersey the following day, then to

Wilmington Delaware, on May 10. OnFriday , May 11, they will head to Annapolis, arriving in Washington, May 12 in time for a 2 p.m. ceremony at the Memorial.

Anyone who would like to sponsor Scott, can send contributions to him at the Amityville Police Department, 16 Greene Ave., Amityville, NY 11701. Checks, made out to Police Unity Tour, are tax deductible.

Sponsorships in McArdle's name should be sent to the Police Unity Tour, Chapter 37, P.O. Box 2043, Miller Place, NY 11764.

For more information on the tour and the National Law Enforcement Officers memorial Fund, go to www.policeunitytour.com or email them at: info@policeunitytour.com.

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