DeWitt — Saturday, Jan. 9, is national Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and Central New York residents are encouraged to stop by Shoppingtown Mall in DeWitt between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to support their local law enforcement personnel. The event will feature speakers from county sheriff’s offices and the New York State Police, display tables, demonstrations of law enforcement specialty units and more.
The Genesee Valley chapter of the national Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) group, which offers support to the families and co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, is sponsoring the event.
“The intention of the event is to be a public show of appreciation to law enforcement and an open house for law enforcement,” said Tom Engelmann, a Cazenovia police officer and liaison for the Genesee Valley COPS chapter. “There are issues right now with the public and the negative press coverage of law enforcement, and we want the public to respect us, appreciate the job we do, while on the other hand we need to respect the public and work together.”
The Jan. 9 event in DeWitt will feature speeches by Onondaga County Sheriff Eugene Conway, New York State Police Troop D Commander Maj. Francis S. Coots and others. It will also have information tables and demonstrations from specialty units such as the Syracuse Police Department bomb squad, the SPD response (SWAT) team and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office historian.
The event will take place in front of the Rite Aid store inside Shoppingtown Mall. The mall is located at 3649 Erie Blvd East, Dewitt.
The Genesee Valley COPS chapter serves 23 Upstate New York counties, including Madison and Onondaga, and stretches from Rochester to Binghamton to Syracuse to Utica.
According to COPS, between 140 and 160 law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty. The organization helps the survivors of those fallen officers by offering training to law enforcement agencies on how to respond to the loss of a fellow officer. The group also offers scholarships, special retreats and conferences, a summer camp for kids and other resources for the survivors of the fallen.
In addition to hosting special events on national Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, the Concerns of Police Survivors also encourages citizens to show their support for law enforcement by wearing blue clothing, changing their profile picture on social media to the .jpg image provided at facebook.com/nationalcops, send a card of support to their local police department or share a story about a positive law enforcement experience on social media.
For more information, visit the national Concerns of Police Survivors website at nationalcops.org or the Genesee Valley COPS chapter website at geneseevalleycops.org.
