Over the last 10 years, the Moorestown Township Police Department has assembled a group of around 20 people from different jurisdictions to ride in the Police Unity Tour.
For four days, police officers from across the country take a ride. Local officers pedal more than 200 miles from Florham Park to Washington, D.C., in tribute to members of the police force who have died in the line of duty.
Over the last 10 years, the Moorestown Township Police Department has assembled a group of around 20 people from different jurisdictions to ride in the Police Unity Tour, according to Ptl. George Hubel. Going from 18 riders in1997 to 2,800 in 2018, the event has grown exponentially in size with officers raising more $2.8 million for the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial and Museum this year.
Hubel said that in 1997, Officer Patrick P. Montuore of the Florham Park Police Department decided to get a group of officers and embark on a bicycle ride. Their goal was to raise money and awareness about fallen police officers, and that first year, they raised around $18,000.
The ride caught on, and in 2007, Moorestown’s Sgt. Richard Gunning joined and asked Hubel to give him a ride to Florham Park. Hubel said when he saw the sheer number of officers participating, he knew he wanted to participate the following year.
Nine chapters of police officers from around the nation make the annual pilgrimage to D.C. To participate, officers must raise $1,950 each. Hubel said the Unity Tour is annually the largest financial contribution to the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial.
Hubel said two Moorestown officers’ names are on the wall. Sgt. Francis X. Fullerton was involved in a shootout in the parking lot of a Moorestown 7-Eleven and died of complications of his wounds, while Ptl. George C. Ayers was killed in an automobile accident. Hubel said they ride, in part, as tribute to both of these fallen officers.
Leading up to the ride, officers work to build their cardiovascular endurance. Hubel said when the weather cooperates, they train outside, but when the weather is uncooperative, like this year, the officers log quite a bit of time in spin classes.
Beginning May 9, the officers rode 90 miles, 53 miles, 87 miles the third day to Annapolis and finished the remaining miles to D.C. on the final day, Hubel said. Each officer gets a bracelet with the name of an officer who has passed away on it, and they ride in their honor.
“The motto behind the Unity Tour is that ‘we ride for those who died,’” Hubel said. “Every year, [a] number of names go on the wall from those killed the previous year.”
The families of the fallen officers met the riders in D.C. and joined them for a candlelight vigil on May 12.
Moorestown officers use their own vacation days to go on the tour and raise the money individually. The entire experience is quite the undertaking but a worthwhile one, Hubel said.
“At the end of the day, 2,000 of your closest friends coming together for a common goal is very gratifying,” Hubel said.
