From Edgewater Police Chief John Hough:
On December 17, 2014 six officers from the Edgewater Police Department participated in the 12th annual “Cops Fighting Cancer- the Long Blue Line” event at Childrens Hospital of Colorado in Aurora. The annual event has been organized and coordinated from the first year by an officer with the Aurora Police Department who is a cancer survivor.
This year’s event included 30 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with nearly 250 law enforcement personnel along with many civilian volunteers. The staging area was at the Graebel Moving and Storage site in Aurora. Interim Chief Terry Jones of the Aurora Police Department conducted a roll call of all the agencies and one of the young cancer treatment patients from CHOC was introduced to the officers and volunteers. The young patient was appointed an honorary Aurora Police Department officer.
After the roll call and introduction, a procession of over 100 police vehicles, all with their emergency lights activated, drove to the front entrance of CHOC where they were greeted by members of the hospital staff and patients. The assembled group of officers marched into the hospital lobby behind an honor guard and to the ceremonial sounds of bagpipers dressed in their traditional attire. The procession received media coverage from reporters on the ground and in the air from most of the local television stations. All along the route members of the community lined the streets to cheer and wave in support of the procession.
At the hospital, the officers were divided into separate groups and escorted by hospital staff and hospital volunteers to the patient areas. The patients at CHOC are children of all ages suffering from a variety of illnesses and injuries, not just cancer. The officers greeted the young patients and their families in their rooms; distributed donated gifts that included stuffed animals, toys and games; and wished everyone a better holiday season and a full recovery.
Given the success of the event this year as well as last year, and the keen interest of the Edgewater Police Department officers in participating, the Department will continue to be involved in this event.
Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.
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