Page 41 - FOP August 2021

Keep on running
n BY ROSEMARY AN
Rob Swiderski is still on the move, making a long trek. Again.
Donning Chicago flag socks and carrying the City’s flag as well as the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation flag, Swiderski walked, ran and marched around City Hall at 8 a.m. on July 15. It was the beginning of yet another journey to raise awareness and get Chicago Police Department officers the resources to improve their mental health.
He had just learned that another Chicago Police Officer, Chris- tian Furczon, had died by suicide, the third such incident in the Department this year. Swiderski decided overnight to make an- other run to bring attention to the issue of mental health of offi- cers with a 28-hour walk and run around City Hall.
“I just immediately felt this sense of sadness and responsibil- ity,” Swiderski relayed. “I knew that I had to do something. Even with all the things I have going on in my life, I realized that the time to act is now, and there is no greater importance in life than to be there for another human being and to stand for a cause that we really believe in.”
Swiderski, 49, had been thinking about the City Hall idea for a few weeks and had planned to make it happen a month later. But when he heard of the suicide, he wanted to act right away so that he could gain the attention of the people who can enact change and break the stigma of mental health.
“This is where our leaders are,” Swiderski explained. “It’s im- portant to let them know that we care about our officers and to
Rob Swiderski makes 28-hour journey around City Hall
to raise awareness for officers’ mental health
invite them into the conversation.”
With his boundless energy and passion fueling his trek, Swid-
erski continuously made the circuit north on Washington Avenue, east on Clark Street, south on Randolph and west on LaSalle back to Washington. Lodge 7 President John Catanzara stopped by af- ter dusk to take a few laps with him, as did Recording Secretary Rob Noceda earlier in the day.
Swiderski stopped to chat, hug and shake hands with officers like Nicole Rychtanek, Zach Jenskovec and Geo Zuniga, members of the Critical Incident Response Team who were patrolling the area at midday. He shared his story of dealing with his own men- tal health issues to the point of trying to take his own life 25 years ago and urged officers to seek out available resources as they need them.
“If you don’t have mental health, you’ve got nothing,” Swiderski declared. “We’re raising the bar here. It’s not enough to say, ‘Hey, are you okay?’ It’s more of an open-ended question like, ‘What’s going on?’ It’s all these things that are the anxiety. Everyone’s afraid to make a move because they fear that they’re going to lose their job, as well as everything they’ve worked so hard for.”
Swiderski wanted the city’s leaders to engage with officers to learn what’s important to them, as well as how to best serve those who serve others. As the son of retired officer Robert Swiderski Sr., not only does he feel like a part of the CPD family, but he also views the 12,000 officers in Chicago who serve 2.7 million resi-
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