Thank You, Montgomery County FOP Lodge #35!

Recently, Memorial Fund Director of Law Enforcement Relations & Development, John Shanks, had the honor of visiting Montgomery County FOP Lodge #35, where current Lodge President Torrie Cooke and immediate past President Marc Zifcak presented him with a $25,000 check made out to the National Law Enforcement Museum.

Three years ago, John Shanks met with Marc Zifcak, then-President of FOP Lodge #35, to share his excitement about the forthcoming National Law Enforcement Museum. Marc Zifcak and Lodge #35 soon began working with the Montgomery County Administration to organize an innovative way to donate to the Museum project: a payroll deduction program that would accrue funds to support the National Law Enforcement Museum. The program was implemented and has been a great success. Over the past two years, Montgomery County law enforcement and support personnel have been donating to the Museum through payroll deduction. With an $80 million campaign goal to build the National Law Enforcement Museum, every little bit helps, and Lodge #35 went above and beyond to do their part.

Everyone at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and the National Law Enforcement Museum extend our gratitude to Lodge #35, President Torrie Cooke, and immediate past President Mark Zifcak, for their dedication to helping us build this Museum.

If your agency would like to look into setting up a payroll deduction program to support the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund or National Law Enforcement Museum, please contact John Shanks directly at JShanks@nleomf.org or 202.737.8529.

Congratulations to Donald Hadix, Winner of the Memorial Fund’s 2012 Harley-Davidson Raffle supporting the Museum!

This morning, Don Hadix of Johnstown, PA, winner of the Memorial Fund’s 2012 Harley-Davidson raffle, claimed his prize at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC.

In March, the Memorial Fund launched its annual Harley-Davidson raffle to raise funds and awareness for the National Law Enforcement Museum, currently under construction adjacent to the Memorial.

For $25, each participant received a raffle ticket and the chance to win a 2012 Harley-Davidson Ultra-Classic® Electra Glide® Peace Officers Special Edition motorcycle, plus a free co-branded Harley-Davidson/Memorial Fund t-shirt.

To say Don and his wife Debra were excited to receive their shiny new Harley-Davidson is an understatement. Debra and Don, wearing his co-branded Harley-Davidson/Memorial Fund t-shirt, marveled at their new Harley and posed for a few photos. “I feel like I could cry … I just can’t believe it,” Don said. Debra was just as incredulous, “I can’t believe he actually won!”

 

Back in 2002, a good friend of the Hadix family, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Joseph J. Sepp, Jr., was shot and killed in the line of duty. Don explained that they have supported the Memorial Fund ever since. “When I bought one $25 raffle ticket, I thought of it as a donation to the Memorial Fund,” Hadix said. “I never thought I would win.”

Four thousand tickets were printed and the raffle completely sold out, helping to raise over $102,000 for the Museum campaign. With this sixth raffle, the Memorial Fund has raised more than $373,000 for the National Law Enforcement Museum, thanks to Harley-Davidson.

"The Memorial Fund is honored to have Harley-Davidson as a Museum partner," said Chairman & CEO Craig W. Floyd. "Not only does the raffle raise funds for the Museum, it helps raise awareness and build support for the Museum campaign," he added. The combined total of raffle proceeds plus the value of the motorcycles donated bring Harley’s contribution to the Museum campaign to nearly $500,000.

Witness to History: Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

On the night of June 5, 1968, then-presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was making his way through the crowded Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on his way to the ballroom to declare victory in the California Democratic primary. But before he could, he was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.

To commemorate the 44th anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s death, the National Law Enforcement Museum teamed with Target® for Witness to History: Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Chairman & CEO Craig Floyd moderated the panel discussion. The panel included Arturo Placencia, LAPD (Ret.), arresting officer of Sirhan Sirhan; Evan Thomas, author of Robert Kennedy: His Life; and Steven Hughes, United States Secret Service Special Agent in charge of Dignitary Protective Service. Each speaker brought a unique perspective to the issue that captivated the audience.

Evan Thomas set the stage by describing the social, cultural and political landscape Bobby Kennedy faced in 1968. He described Kennedy as someone who was on the brink of “being great” when he was assassinated.

Officer Placencia’s vivid description of the emotions and confusion following the shooting that injured five people in addition to Kennedy brought those chaotic moments alive for the audience.  “I was a 21-year old rookie cop, only three weeks out of the academy when we got the call,” Placencia said.

The Witness to History Speaker Series focuses on significant events in law enforcement history, conveyed through the insights of those who witnessed them. Events may involve a lecture or panel discussion followed by question and answer opportunities for the audience.

The first three events focused on the 1963 shooting of then President John F. Kennedy’s alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald; the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; and the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 crash in Washington, DC. Stay tuned for more events to come.

Museum Receives Corrections-related Collection from Grand Traverse County (MI) Sheriff's Office

As we celebrate National Correctional Officers and Employees Week (May 6-12), we’d like to share some interesting corrections-related artifacts the Museum recently acquired.

Last week, the Grand Traverse County (MI) Sheriff’s Office donated a unique collection, which includes a handcrafted contraband weapon confiscated from an inmate at the Grand Traverse County Correctional Facility in 1971; a makeshift bullet; other accessories and design sketches; and a print magazine with a bullet hole.

At the correctional facility, these items were voluntarily given up to corrections officers after an inmate test-fired the weapon into a magazine (an issue of Argosy, an American pulp magazine published from 1882-1978). After drawing up plans on scrap paper, the inmate crafted the body of the weapon out of paper, including cigarette paper and gum wrappers. A piece of his bed frame made the weapon’s barrel. The bullet is the metal, eraser-end of a pencil, and match-heads were smashed up to provide gunpowder. The bullet could be loaded into the barrel using a paper casing like a wad, similar to the way muzzles are loaded. When the inmate test-fired the “gun,” the “bullet” nearly punctured all the way through the magazine.

R0291.2 Pistol; handmade contraband weapon made mainly of paper 

R0291.3 Bullet; metal eraser-end of a pencil used as bullet in handmade weapon

R0291.1 Sketches; pencil drawings of weapon design

R0291.6 Serial: Argosy with partial bullet-hole at center

Officers tossed the weapon and related materials into a drawer where they remained until rediscovered in the 1990s. The items were then put on display in their academy training room, used to inform officers about how inmates may create contraband weapons using whatever time, tools, and materials they can get.

It is interesting to note that Grand Traverse County Correctional facility became a non-smoking facility in 2000; matches and cigarettes are no longer allowed.

This fascinating collection is one example of how the corrections profession will be highlighted in the National Law Enforcement Museum.

Inaugural Honor at the Castle Gala - Proceeds Benefit the Museum

Last week, the first Honor at the Castle Gala was held at Oheka Castle in Huntington, on Long Island, New York. The event, hosted by Memorial Fund supporters Stuart and Lisa Levine of The Zellman Group, LLC, was held to pay tribute to America’s peace officers and their families, and to raise funds for the National Law Enforcement Museum.

The Gala honored Nassau County Police Officers Geoffrey Breitkopf and Michael Califano, and ATF Officer John Capano, and their families, some of whom were in attendance.

"It's just nice to see after all the months that have past, to see my husband still remembered and honored and to know that he's not going to be forgotten ... that so much is being done for him," said Jacqueline Califano.

Actor Mark Feuerstein emceed the event and singer and songwriter Range performed his new song, “Lay it down.” When asked about the song’s meaning, he said, "It's about the police officers and soldiers that put their life on the line everyday to keep us free and keep us happy.”

A big thank you to all who attended the special event for their generous contributions to the Museum.

Recollections and Thoughts from Air Florida Flight 90 First Responders, 30 Years Later

At the National Law Enforcement Museum’s most recent Witness to History event, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus shared his experiences as a law enforcement first responder following the Air Florida Flight 90 crash of January 13, 1982, in Washington, DC. Chief McManus’s memories were featured in a Museum Insider article, “Witness to History: Air Florida Flight 90 Crash, January 13, 1982,” which sparked other first responders to share their recollections of this tragic event.

On January 13, 1982, shortly before 4:00 p.m. on a snowy winter day, Air Florida Flight 90 (called “Palm 90” by air traffic control that day) took off from National Airport, located along the Potomac River. Ice-clogged sensors prevented the Boeing 737 from reaching the proper altitude and about a mile after takeoff it slammed into the top of the 14th Street Bridge, ripping into pieces as it plunged into the ice-covered river. Only five people on board the aircraft survived; the other 74 passengers and crew perished, as did four motorists commuting on the bridge.

Don Usher, a United States Park Police (USPP) pilot, responded to the disaster in Eagle 1, a Bell single-rotor helicopter. Mr. Usher recalled the frigid weather as the biggest challenge the rescue operations faced. “The water temperature was very cold,” he recounted. “The passengers had been in the water 20 minutes when we arrived. The rescues took 10 minutes longer.”

The rescue operations were also hampered by the lack of appropriate rescue equipment available to the USPP. He wrote, “During the Palm 90 incident, our rescue equipment was limited to several ‘throwballs’ that inflated into small circular life rings, a tow strap from the helicopter, and a borrowed ring buoy and line we obtained from a fire unit on the scene along the Potomac.” Mr. Usher noted that, because of the Air Florida crash, the U.S. Park Police subsequently purchased—and used extensively—several rescue nets for water rescue operations.

In 1982, Jim Boyd, an officer with the District Heights Police Department in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and a volunteer underwater team rescue diver for the County Fire Department, joined the disaster response efforts. Like Mr. Usher, Mr. Boyd understood that the cold and threat of hypothermia for the crash survivors were their biggest challenges. As a rescue diver, he vividly recalled that what stood out to him “…was how cold you could get even in a dry suit after 10 minutes in the water and how difficult it was to warm up before doing it again.” Profoundly affected by the events of that day, Mr. Boyd said recovering the bodies of the airline passengers who lost their lives was life-changing and still haunts him today.

Through the reflections of these first responders, it’s evident that the Air Florida disaster deeply affected those involved in the rescue and recovery efforts. Chief McManus called it the “most horrific event” of his career, until the events of 9/11 and the plane crashed into the Pentagon. Mr. Usher regretted that neither he nor other rescuers were able to save the life of Arland Williams, the heroic “last passenger” who kept passing the helicopter life ring to other survivors in the icy cold waters of the Potomac River. Mr. Boyd said that if he could go back, he would have “prayed a lot more for the safety” of all those involved.

Collections Update: Museum Acquires Historic Railroad Policing Collection

The Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company recently donated to the Museum historic archival records relating to their company’s law enforcement service. Personnel files, wanted posters, telegraph code books, photographs, railroad maps, and case reports from special agents dating from the late 19th through the mid 20th century, and many other items make up this eclectic and valuable collection.

Wanted Posters and Code Book, ca. 1920-1940. 2011.3. Collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum, Washington, D.C.

The BNSF Railroad, founded in 1849 with rail lines laid in Illinois, expanded and merged with other railroads over the decades, and by the late 20th century provided rail service to the western two-thirds of the United States, as well as parts of Mexico and Canada.

Collections and Education Assistant Joy Veenstra examines a code book from the BNSF Railroad Collections.

If you have information, photographs, objects, or documents that will help expand this collection, or have anything to share related to railroad policing, please contact the Museum at museum@nleomf.org.

To read more about the history of railroad policing: http://www.nleomf.org/officers/stories/rich-history-of-railroad.html.