Officers Will Ride to D.C. as a Part of Unity Tour

Sean Mitchell was in a hotel room out of state when he got the call.

Officer Brian Worell was shot at twice May 10, 2010, during a robbery that occurred at the Exxon Tiger Mart on Route 23 northbound. Mitchell was participating in the Police Unity Tour, a national event where cyclists ride for three days to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., in early May every year.

“We thought about going back since one of our own was injured, but we had heard that he was going to be okay so we stayed down there and finished the ride,” Mitchell said. “What happened to him, he was the whole reason why we were down there.”

The Police Unity Tour was organized by the Florham Park Police Department in 1997. The tour is designed to increase awareness about law enforcement personnel who have died in the line of duty and to raise funds for the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial and Museum. Last year was the first year the Wayne Police Department participated in the event.

“It’s amazing to see all the people who are down there along the route,” Mitchell said. “So often you think in the back of your mind ‘does anyone care about what I’m doing?’ People do care. When we rode down the last few blocks before the memorial, we were surrounded on either side by people with signs with ‘thank you’ printed on them. There were law enforcement officers from Canada and England there; people literally came from all over the world.”

Eight police officers will participate in this year’s 300-mile tour. Each officer must raise $1,750 to participate in the event. The officers also need cases of water, Gatorade, and energy bars to eat while on the road.

More than 140 police officers were killed in the United States in the line of duty since May 9, 2010, 55 of them by gunfire—that’s one every 53 hours.

“When you hear of a police officer getting killed, a piece of you dies,” Mitchell said. “When you see the people holding signs up at the memorial and see people holding flowers and leaning against the wall of names and crying, it gets very emotional. It reminds us why we ride.”

For more information, contact Detective Sean Mitchell at 973-633-3531 or via e-mail at mitchells@waynetownship.com.