The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
UPDATED: Lt. Darrin Russo sent along this picture of Team Franklin after they finished the tour.
Several hundred police officers from around the country – including 16 from Franklin Township – set off early in the morning of May 10 on the annual Police Unity Tour bike ride to Washington, D.C.
The tour is a fundraiser for the National Law Enforcement Officers memorial wall in D.C.
Franklin Police Lt. Darrin Russo, the leader of the township contingent, said the ride will span about 240 miles.
The group started from in front of police headquarters in the municipal complex off DeMot Lane, then was going to travel down Amwell Road to nearly the Pennsylvania border, Russo said.
From there, the riders will travel to Philadelphia, where they will stop for the night.
The May 11 leg, about 100 miles, will take the riders to the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Md., Russo said.
On may 13, the riders will arrive in Washington for a ceremony at the memorial, he said.
This is Russo’s fifth year of taking the tour, he said.
“We ride for those who died,” he said.
Russo said he’s been able to fit in training for the ride when he can.
“Every day I can, I get out and ride like the rest of these guys,” he said.
Several thousand police officers from around the country are expected to take part in the tour, which was founded in 1997.
The ideas will stop at 13 Target stores along the way to raise awareness of the memorial and of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Target is the tour’s primary sponsor.
For more information on the tour and the memorial, click here.
National Unity Tour 5-10-14
