Page 50 - FOP Magazine March 2019

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■ BY ERIKA WURST
Trading in their badges for basketballs and their tactical gear for game gear, officers from Area 2 spent the afternoon of Feb. 11 hitting the court instead of the street.
The 5th District, along with 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale, hosted the inaugural First Responders Day event at the newly built Pullman Community Center.
It was an afternoon that let civilian employees and officers from the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 22nd districts come togeth- er alongside Chicago firefighters to let loose, have fun and kick each other’s butts in friendly games of basketball, soccer and flag football.
“There are thousands of instances where first responders responded, witnessed and assisted in tragedies, heartbreaks, helplessness and disbelief that went unrecognized,” Beale said of the motivation to help host the event. “All of these heroes have performed miracles, supported others, and have given a part of themselves, sometimes their lives, to save others. [During this event] we chose to show them thanks for their dedication and commitment.”
Officer Michele Millison of the 5th District spent about three weeks working alongside Beale to put the event together. They ordered trophies, reached out to different districts to organize teams and worked with the Chicago Police Explorers to set up a staging area at the Pullman Community Center for the officers’ children.
Millison said it was important to get all of the officers togeth- er under the same roof — and the idea of a little healthy compe- tition seemed to do the trick.
“I think that the officers really needed it,” Millison said. “It was a healthy outlet. A day of fun. There was no protocol. There was no uniform...”
Well, no formal uniform, anyway. Each district did wear its own colored T-shirts and played under a unique team name. Of- ficers from the 4th were dubbed “the Fantastic Four,” while the 6th was named “the Sixers.”
Alderman Anthony Beale with officers from the 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th dis- tricts.
“We at the 4th District are still talking about how much we enjoyed ourselves that day,” said 4th District CAPS Officer Eric Davis. “We feel that days like this help us relieve the stress we have to undergo on a daily basis.”
For Millison, it was also a great way to get officers working within the same area to connect with one another.
“As opposed to just seeing each other on the street, we want- ed to bring everyone together under one roof,” Millison said. “We don’t get to see a lot of the officers in other districts because of our boundaries, but we still know them. There is crossover.”
That meant some officers might have found themselves drib- bling past a guy they were in the academy with, or scoring a touchdown against a former colleague.
“It becomes pretty competitive,” Millison said. “But it’s good clean fun.”
It is Millison’s hope that a First Responders Day event will be held up to three times a year as a way for officers to get together, relieve stress, create camaraderie and compete off the street.
“Being a first responder is a really different type of job. You see and are involved in things most people aren’t,” Millison said. “Because of that, you need an outlet.”
She hopes that the newly created event will become just that for the officers of Area 2.
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50 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2019