Page 45 - FOP August 2021

Children, motorcycles and a whole lot of love for CPD
As Chicago Police Department officers are enduring more long stretches without days off, they continue to work with the community to engage and build relation- ships with residents. In return, the commu- nity wanted to show their appreciation for the officers.
This summer in the city featured many acts of kindness toward law enforcement. Children honored 3rd and 4th District of- ficers, while motorcycle clubs and the community supported 9th District officers, overwhelming the members in these dis- tricts with their love.
Officers in the 3rd and 4th Districts head- ed to Rosenblum Park at 12 p.m. on July 17 to support the children of Lost Boyz Inc. at the 5th Annual Beyond the Badge event. The officers have played softball with the youth in the past, so the children wanted to invite them to the game.
“We were there to support and hang out,” said Keith Seals, a 3rd District Com- munity Policing officer. “And they reached out, telling us that they wanted to honor us for our commitment to working with the youth. It’s just great seeing that the com- munity does appreciate us.”
The organization works to provide sports-based youth development to help boys and girls in underserved neighbor- hoods develop confidence, resilience and life skills. They also aim to end the stigma regarding law enforcement officers and the public.
“They embed in the children since they’re young that police officers are their friends,” Seals explained. “And that we help people out. They want to instill in the kids that we actually are human.”
After the game, the Lost Boyz and of- ficers stood in line formation, with each child facing an officer. The children, who were anywhere between four and 13 years old, presented blue and black gift bags to each officer and thanked them for their
commitment to engage with the youth of Chicago.
In a separate show of backing the blue, the 9th District community organized a law enforcement rally on July 8. And when the Blue Reckoning Law Enforcement Mo- torcycle Club heard about the event, they got on their bikes to show support for their colleagues who are active, retired or have made the ultimate sacrifice.
“We were at another motorcycle event a few days prior to that,” said Tom Sieja, the vice president of Blue Reckoning Law En- forcement Motorcycle Club and an officer in the Forensic Firearm Laboratory unit. “And they had made the announcement [about the event]. And then we just created a flyer amongst our own groups and said, ‘Hey, let’s come out and show support for the community and for the police.’”
Sieja, who once patrolled the streets of the 9th District, brought his 2017 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic Trike and lined it up with the more than 20 motorcycles sta- tioned outside, then joined the rest of the crowd. Men donning biker jackets with their motorcycle club names inscribed on the back gave speeches and spoke to offi- cers about their appreciation for the public servants.
“This isn’t CAPS organizing and hosting
this,” Sieja mentioned. “It’s the commu- nity doing this. Outside of being an offi- cer, that’s awesome to see the community wanting to this on their own. That speaks volumes for the community.”
Other law enforcement motorcycle clubs present at the rally included the Loyal War- riors Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, the Blue Saints Law Enforcement Mo- torcycle Club, the Copperheads Law En- forcement Motorcycle Club, the American Renegades Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, the Blue Knights XI Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, the Blue Crew Law En- forcement Motorcycle Club, the Nameless Few Motorcycle Association and the Ca- naryville Veterans Riders Association.
Within the swarm of supporters was retired officer Jim Wendlandt, who served his entire 30-year career in the 9th District. He is also the founder and president of the American Renegades Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club.
“I was very proud to see the support from the neighborhood as we all came to- gether as one,” Wendlandt noted. “To see everyone come out to the district I gave my career to was a great feeling. This should be done more frequently, as the officers need to know there are people who appreciate all that they do.”
Medals keep coming for detective at Police & Fire Games
You can’t stop Detective Marco Acevedo — even at the age of 52.
Acevedo put his athletic talents to the test once again at the U.S. Police and Fire Championships in June in San Diego and walked away with three more medals to add to his already bursting collec- tion of hardware from past track and field success.
This year, Acevedo earned a silver with his second-place finish time of 13.89 seconds in the
100-meter sprint event. His gold medals came in the long jump (14 feet) and triple jump (23 feet). Acevedo, who is also a key leader of the Chicago Police Knights Baseball Club, is testing his limits in the 50- to 54-year-old age group.
Since 2018, Acevedo has earned silver med- als at previous Police and Fire Championships as part of a baseball team and in individual track and field events.
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