Page 35 - February 2021

Inaugural aides Thirty-four Chicago Police Officers travel to Washington, D.C.,
to provide historic security on Inauguration Day
Chicago Police Officers help secure Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20 for President Biden’s inauguration.
n BY KAREN JENKINS
For Officer Herald White, there is no partisan to the oath.
The 7th District officer boarded the plane to Washington, D.C., ahead of Pres- ident Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, knowing that the job he was about to complete would be one of the most im- portant assignments of his career.
White held his head high as one of 34 officers from the Chicago Police Depart- ment — 25 of whom are Lodge 7 mem- bers — sent to help protect the streets of Washington, D.C., during the transition of presidential power.
“I figured it would be cool to represent the Department,” shared White, who has three years on the job. “I wanted to see the structure of how it’s set up, from federal to state police and city police — just to see things on a large scale, a fuller picture.”
The city has sent Chicago Police Of- ficers to the nation’s capital every years since the 1989 inauguration of George H.W. Bush to serve the citizens of Wash- ington, D.C. The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has received inauguration assistance from municipalities nation- wide since 1890.
About 400 officers in Chicago volun- teered in August 2020 to make the trip. Af- ter a rigorous vetting process, 120 sworn
officers were originally slated to attend. However, by the time final travel ac- commodations were confirmed, the number of officers attending had to be cut to 34 to adhere to COVID-19 guide-
lines.
The officers who were attending began
procedural training in preparation for the event. Officer Michael Carroll with the Department’s News Affairs Division was one of the officers who was able to make
the trip for his first year of inauguration assistance.
“We all may have our own beliefs and politics, but the choice to serve in this capacity is the same choice that we make when you work on the street,” Carroll affirmed. “No matter what our political views are or how often we choose to ex- press those views, it’s an oath we took. And this is just an extension of that con-
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