POLICE UNITY TOUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY
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Happily ever after A grand Tour
As epic moments that come along the Unity Tour trail go, where does meeting your spouse on the ride rank?
Amanda Linklater was an officer with the Grand Rapids Police Department when she came to Police Week in 2004 to serve with the honor guard at the National Law Enforcement Memorial. While in Washington, D. C., she happened to see the Unity Tour arrive and, being an avid cyclist, she decided she wanted to ride.
In 2006, Linklater rode with Chapter 1 and met Livingston PD Detective and Local 263 member Debbie Shumaker. Shumaker was working support for the tour and has done so for the past 17 years. She drives the tail vehicle in the procession of riders.
“ We met like you meet anybody on the Unity Tour,” Linklater explains.“ Then in 2010, we started to get to know each other better.”
In 2014, Linklater left the Grand Rapids PD after 18 years to be with Shumaker. She also started working full time for the Unity Tour as its director of member services. And she continues to ride each year.
“ Meeting somebody who becomes your spouse later is pretty memorable and meaningful,” Linklater adds.“( The Unity Tour) has given me a chance to do all the things I love. It’ s a perfect fit.”
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A palpable buzz spread through the National Law Enforcement Memorial on the unofficial opening of Police Week 2014. Thousands of people- cops, volunteers, civilians- awaited the arrival of the Police Unity Tour.
The anticipation appeared more intense, more exciting than in past years, however. Aside from watching 1,800 riders completing the four-day, 300-mile supra-marathon, many of the thousands whispered about who would be the leader of the pack into the Memorial.
If there was any poetry to this motion, then-NJ State PBA President Tony Wieners would be the front rider. Wieners was making the Tour for the first time in 10 years. And as most of the thousands there knew, he was about to retire. Also, Wieners, as much as anybody, was one of the big wheels who has contributed to the Police Unity Tour becoming the single greatest law enforcement fundraiser in the world.
Police motorcycles rolled up E Street NW on the south side of the Memorial, and security personnel scurried to keep bystanders back. When riders came into view, sure enough, Wieners led the pack wearing a smile that seemed to stretch from one end of the Memorial to the other.
“ I couldn’ t think of a better way to end my PBA and law enforcement career,” Wieners said, alternating between that smile and tears.“ Being with the survivors and officers, riding into the Memorial and having the honor of leading everybody, words can ' t describe what this is like for me. It was physical, emotional and spiritual, which is everything Police Week is about.”
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Unity Tour by the Numbers
• $ 17,268,973
Total raised through 2015
• 16,253
Total riders through 2015
• $ 1,062.51
Average raised per rider
• $ 298,662 in 2011
The largest increase in money raised over a previous year.
• $ 18,000
The amount raised in 1997, the first year of the Tour in 1997.
Going into Year 20, here’ s what the Tour has rolled up from 1997-2015
• $ 1,987,000
The amount raised in 2015
• 260 in 2004
The largest increase in riders over the previous year
• 1,015
The Tour topped 1,000 riders for the first time in 2007
• $ 1,000,928
The Tour raised more than $ 1 million for the first time in 2006
• 4,875,900
Total miles biked for all riders all years( at an average of 300 miles per rider per year) – enough to go around the Earth 196 times
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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MAY 2016