DeWitt — One person said it was the largest number of people he had seen in Shoppingtown Mall in years.
And the crowds were not there to see celebrities or get free gifts, but to show their appreciation for and to learn something new about local, regional, state and federal law enforcement officers.
Saturday, Jan. 9, was national Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, and the Genesee Valley chapter of the national Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) group sponsored an event at Shoppingtown Mall in DeWitt that featured speakers from county sheriff’s offices and the New York State Police, display tables, demonstrations of law enforcement specialty units and more.
“As we are all well aware, law enforcement is under attack in words as well as actions,” said Ellen Guerdat, president of the Genesee Valley COPS chapter, during a ceremony at the beginning of the daylong event. “It’s time to let our law enforcement officers know that they are appreciated for what they do.”
Guerdat said that law enforcement officers risk their lives every day just by doing their job, and noted that, last weekend alone, four police officers were killed in the United States, including a Philadelphia officer who was sitting in his patrol car when he was shot three times by a man claiming to be inspired by the terrorist group ISIS.
Every year in the United States 150 to 200 law enforcement die in the line of duty, 50,000 are assaulted, 14,000 are injured and 300 to 400 commit suicide, Guerdat said.
“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.”
continued — “This is a great opportunity for kids and people to meet law enforcement and see what we do,” said DeWitt Police Chief James Hildmann, who attended the event along with officers from his department.
The Jan. 9 event in DeWitt featured speeches by Onondaga County Sheriff Eugene Conway, Madison County Undersheriff John Ball, New York State Police Troop D Commander Maj. Francis S. Coots and Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler. There were also information tables and demonstrations from specialty units such as the Syracuse Police Department bomb squad, the SPD response (SWAT) team, the New York State Police K-9 Unit, DeWitt Police Department, Manlius Police Department, Manlius Police Department Explorers, U.S. Border Patrol and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office historian.
“Do we feel under fire? In some respects yes we do,” said Coots during the event. “We must show the public that we serve them every day and deserve their respect.”
Ball said Law Enforcement Appreciation Day was a day to “pause and reflect” on all the good things law enforcement does without bias for race, gender or sexual orientation, and that officers are “here to do a job.”
“It’s important to remember our brothers and sisters … that made the ultimate sacrifice and we hope god keeps them in the palm of his hand,” he said.
Fowler urged his colleagues in the audience to continue serving and protecting the public despite the criticism they may face. He said the media often only tells “half the story” of a police encounter that ends in a tragic way, and they seldom tell how the event started.
“It’s human behavior that brought us into that person’s life,” Fowler said. “We’re there to fly in the face of danger despite what the consequences may be. That’s what we do.”
The Genesee Valley COPS chapter offers support to the families and co-workers of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. It serves 23 Upstate New York counties, including Madison and Onondaga, and stretches from Rochester to Binghamton to Syracuse to Utica.
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.
For more information, visit the national Concerns of Police Survivors website at nationalcops.org or the Genesee Valley COPS chapter website at geneseevalleycops.org.
