POLICE WEEK 2015: UNITY TOUR
‘Unity is what it’s all about’
‘I couldn’t let them down’
Howell Township Local 228 Corporal John Weg simply and
elegantly summed up the sheer magnitude of the Police Unity
Tour by explaining the final three-mile victory lap from RFK Stadium to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall:
“When the first guys get here, the last are leaving,” he said.
It’s that magnitude that makes participants like Weg, who traveled with the Unity Tour in a support capacity, so vital. And after
a 30-year career as a patrolman in Howell watching “Team
Howell PD and the Feds” grow to its current size of nearly-20
members, Weg finally responded to that call to action.
“The guys needed somebody to help them ride and it was time
to step up and do the right thing and help them get down here,”
he explained from the Memorial with the mission completed. “I
couldn’t let them down.”
Support members are responsible for being “Johnny On the
Spot” by managing all facets of the Unity Tour from providing riders with food and water to helping with their bags at each night’s
destination to driving the trailers that carry bikes and spare parts
and using those spare parts to fix popped tires and bent frames
along the way.
For Weg, his time to shine fell in the performance of two roles:
traffic control, and grill patrol:
“At a few intersections they needed a big pickup with a big
trailer to block traffic. I think I made a few people angry during
rush hour but I do that anyway on the job so I felt comfortable,”
Weg joked. “And when my guys get done, I’m opening up the
trailer and out comes the grill, and then Johnny On the Spot
becomes Johnny the Grill Man.”
Although he intends to ride in the future, for Weg, support was
a great way of getting a taste of the Unity Tour. And he promises,
“I’m definitely committed to doing it again next year.” d
Richard Diaz did not roll into the National Law Enforcement
Memorial when the riders were greeted with an echoing ovation
when the Police Unity Tour reached its culmination. But he didn’t
get into this event for the cheers and applause.
Diaz, a member of State Corrections Local 105, was support
crew for his fellow members. For three days, he drove a vehicle
with a trailer hitched that led riders from Chapter 10, and eventually Chapter 2. In the trailer was a big tent, food, water, chairs,
supplies and everything needed to sustain the riders for their
300-plus miles.
“It was like setting up a big camp site,” explained Diaz, who set
up, broke down and moved the site at lea