"We Ride For Those Who Died" | The Police Unity Tour's Remarkable Journey
The Police Unity Tour began with just 18 riders in 1997. Today, it's grown to over 2,000 officers biking 300 miles to honor fallen law enforcement heroes, raising more than $40 million for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
In this powerful episode, founder and retired Police Chief Pat Montuore shares the inspiring story behind this remarkable movement. From its humble beginnings to becoming an international phenomenon, the Police Unity Tour represents the true spirit of the law enforcement brotherhood.
Episode Highlights:
- [00:02:40] How the Police Unity Tour began in 1997
- [00:15:30] The emotional connection riders make with survivors
- [00:24:17] The bracelet tradition honoring fallen officers
- [00:27:27] How the tour expanded internationally
- [00:32:27] Pat's life-changing heart attack during the Israel tour
- [00:36:55] Communities lining the route in support
Pat reveals how each rider carries a bracelet bearing a fallen officer's name, connecting with their families and ensuring their sacrifice is never forgotten. He also shares his own near-death experience during the Israel Police Unity Tour and how it transformed his perspective on life and service.
Along the journey, communities line the route with American flags and signs of support, demonstrating the deep connection between law enforcement and the citizens they serve. As Pat explains, "We're not against anything. All we're for is making sure we remember our fallen, and we let our citizens know that we serve them with honor."
Quote from Episode:
"It's not just about riding that bicycle. It's about educating not only the communities and states we go through, but educating everybody on that bicycle about their own agency who suffered and sacrificed themselves for them and their community."
Learn more at PoliceUnityTour.com and find ways to support law enforcement at CitizensBehindTheBadge.org.
Heroes Behind the Badge is proudly presented by Citizens Behind the Badge, the leading voice of the American people in support of law enforcement.
Transcript
Hey, good to see you again.
Speaker:A warm welcome back to Heroes Behind the Badge where we tell
Speaker:real stories about real cops.
Speaker:We expose the fake news about the police.
Speaker:We give you the real truth.
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Speaker:voice of the American people in support of the men and women of law enforcement.
Speaker:For more information about how you could get involved and add
Speaker:your voice and support to the men and women of law enforcement.
Speaker:It's Citizens Behind the Badge.org.
Speaker:Hi, I'm your host.
Speaker:I'm Dennis Collins.
Speaker:I'm a founding director of Citizens Behind the Badge and
Speaker:a proud law enforcement father.
Speaker:As always, my two colleagues join us today, Bill Erfurth, better known as
Speaker:Billy to some of his friends, and even some of it his en, some of his enemies.
Speaker:How you doing today, sir?
Speaker:I'm doing good and just wanna remind everyone to make sure that you click
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Speaker:that's a good point, Billy.
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Speaker:but they're not subscribing or they're not following the channel,
Speaker:and they don't rate it or review it.
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Speaker:please, when you subscribe or you.
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Speaker:like, so please do us that favor.
Speaker:by the way, bill is a retired Miami-Dade police lieutenant, 26 years of decorated
Speaker:service, and he is also a founding director of Citizens Behind the Badge.
Speaker:And now say hello to our fearless leader, Craig Floyd.
Speaker:Craig is the founder, president, and CEO of Citizens Behind the Badge.
Speaker:You probably know Craig as the founding CEO Emeritus of the
Speaker:National Law Enforcement Memorial and Police Museum in Washington, dc.
Speaker:Craig, thanks for founding this wonderful organization.
Speaker:Thanks for being here today.
Speaker:Good to see you.
Speaker:Oh, it's gonna be a great day.
Speaker:Dennis.
Speaker:as you may have noted, I have my special hat on.
Speaker:This is a police Unity tour hat that I wore proudly on
Speaker:special occasions like this.
Speaker:I also have, right behind me a, painting that was presented to me
Speaker:by the Unity Tour over the years.
Speaker:I've known our guest now, close to 30 years, and, wow.
Speaker:It's an incredible story and, I can't wait to share it with
Speaker:our listeners and our viewers.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:with, no further ado, let me introduce our guest.
Speaker:First of all, a little background.
Speaker:It was 1997 and Patrick Montori, a member of the Ham Park Police Department
Speaker:in New Jersey, he wanted to raise.
Speaker:Public awareness about law enforcement officers who have
Speaker:died in the line of duty.
Speaker:He created the Police Unity tour.
Speaker:His idea was simple.
Speaker:Organize a bicycle ride from New Jersey to Washington, DC the Law
Speaker:Enforcement Officer Memorial to ensure that officers who have died in the
Speaker:line of duty are never forgotten.
Speaker:They ride for those who died the original tour.
Speaker:18 writers.
Speaker:Today coming up in, in, in police week, May, 2025, there'll be over 2000
Speaker:writers who ride to remember the fallen.
Speaker:when the writers get to the memorial, they're greeted by
Speaker:friends, family, and survivors.
Speaker:That, they fundraise throughout the year for the Unity Tour and it's
Speaker:ultimately donated to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Speaker:Pat retired in 2015 as Chief of Police of the Florham, community, but he
Speaker:continues to lead the Police Unity tour.
Speaker:Pat, a warm welcome to Heroes Behind the Badge.
Speaker:A thank you for all you have done.
Speaker:To support law enforcement.
Speaker:A quick personal note, there's nothing more thrilling on the day
Speaker:that the police unity writers arrive at the memorial site in Washington,
Speaker:DC to see thousands and thousands of people riding into the memorial site.
Speaker:I've seen it number of times.
Speaker:It never, ever ceases to give me chills.
Speaker:So again, thank you for all you're you do, and welcome to Heroes Behind the Badge.
Speaker:it's, such an honor to be surrounded towards, gentlemen like yourselves
Speaker:as well as a very close friend, Craig Floyd, for many years.
Speaker:as he said, we've been, together for over 30 years now.
Speaker:and it's been such an honor and such a journey to make sure that we
Speaker:remember our fallen, but not just remember some, remember 'em all
Speaker:from the memorial to our museum.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:Craig and Billy have a bunch of questions they'd like to ask you.
Speaker:I'll turn it over to Craig and fire away, Craig.
Speaker:For starters, I just wanted to show a plaque that I cherish.
Speaker:I have a few plaques, here in my collection, but none
Speaker:more important than this.
Speaker:This, designated me back in 2004.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:We're getting old.
Speaker:as a life member.
Speaker:I. Of the Police Unity Tour and I, display this very proudly and I'm proud
Speaker:to display it here for our viewers and listeners, before we talk about the
Speaker:Police Unity Tour, and I have some great stories about how it all started and how
Speaker:Pat and I got together many years ago.
Speaker:bill, I know you were curious about Pat's background and I,
Speaker:think that's a good place to start.
Speaker:Let's start there, pat.
Speaker:and, interesting thing, and, Craig certainly knows you for 30 years and you
Speaker:guys have had some very memorable times together Great, fundraising that went on.
Speaker:But let's start with things that I don't know, about you and, let's talk
Speaker:about how you got into law enforcement.
Speaker:What was your position?
Speaker:What were you doing at the time actually?
Speaker:And then how did this actually.
Speaker:Manifest itself.
Speaker:Where did the, this idea of the police Unity tour come from?
Speaker:it's funny you asked this question like this.
Speaker:I had the opportunity two Sundays ago to be in front of the Atlantic County and
Speaker:Cape May County 200 Club to be able to speak about, this particular topic, who
Speaker:I was, what motivated, the Unity tour.
Speaker:And it's pretty simple.
Speaker:I, things are, people would say not by accident.
Speaker:I've had the very.
Speaker:I've been very lucky in life to be surrounded around the
Speaker:most amazing people in my life.
Speaker:from the very beginning, I wanted to become a police officer watching my
Speaker:uncle, who was an ESS County police officer come to my house in his uniform
Speaker:to see my grandmother, who we lived with.
Speaker:we grew up in Orange, New Jersey, right in the area where it's a melting
Speaker:pot between Newark, east Orange, Irvington, the larger city areas, in
Speaker:the Essex County District of New Jersey.
Speaker:I had such an, a appeal towards law enforcement and justice from a very
Speaker:early age, wanting to be involved in it.
Speaker:Although my father was, a, auto mechanic, auto body mechanic, repairing vehicles who
Speaker:he wanted me to follow in his footsteps.
Speaker:And I kept pushing towards becoming a law enforcement officer.
Speaker:And one of the challenges that I had very early on, which was really
Speaker:important to me just to mention now, was, is that I had dyslexia.
Speaker:obviously that could be a major issue when it comes to numbers and the
Speaker:ability for you to perform your job in professional way and being concerned about
Speaker:being able to do what you need to do.
Speaker:and when, someone said you had something called dyslexia, thank God for, again,
Speaker:like I said, the people that I've been surrounded around and in my life, a
Speaker:fourth grade teacher, it helped me,
Speaker:To this very day, I, I basically owe it all to a woman by the name of Mrs.
Speaker:Cosgrove, from my school, who basically took the time to make sure she gave
Speaker:me the extra assistance and help to be a part, of the community of education
Speaker:rather than trying to fall behind.
Speaker:And from that point on, I was able to learn and be a part of something to,
Speaker:get past that disability and to see.
Speaker:Maybe in the future become somebody, like a law enforcement officer had
Speaker:the opportunity, to be involved with ESS County Public Safety.
Speaker:for a year after I graduated high school, very quickly went into law enforcement.
Speaker:my uncle from ESS County was able to help me get involved in that.
Speaker:And then very shortly thereafter, there was, politically layoffs and things coming
Speaker:up, and I, all of a sudden reality came to me thinking like, where am I gonna go?
Speaker:What am I going to do and how am I gonna get there?
Speaker:I was.
Speaker:I found Florence Park, New Jersey by mistake, and then I ended up being there.
Speaker:and then just like anything else, the people that surrounded me in that
Speaker:community was a lot different than where I grew up, where people were
Speaker:very apprehensive and cautious around certain people and issues or concerns,
Speaker:thinking that someone was always gonna do something to harm you, or
Speaker:there was always going to be a reason to make sure that you were guarded.
Speaker:I went to a community where if you're directing traffic, people
Speaker:from the community brought you out donuts and iced tea.
Speaker:and quick story to that was, is one time I'm, I just get hired.
Speaker:I graduate from the police academy.
Speaker:I'm on top of the world.
Speaker:I. I feel like this is my home.
Speaker:Amazing, wonderful people.
Speaker:You're not hearing sirens all night from like, when, where in the city
Speaker:or where you, where I previously was.
Speaker:You're, experiencing life the way you would wanna experience life in a beautiful
Speaker:community of, citizens that want to be a part of the safety and, wellbeing.
Speaker:So I'm sitting directing traffic and, Craig will remember, Ridgedale Avenue
Speaker:and Columbia Turnpike, a major county road and county roads, and I'm sitting
Speaker:there directing traffic and waving at people are beeping at you not to yell
Speaker:at you, beeping at you, to wave to you.
Speaker:Then all of a sudden this woman comes out and brings me out a little box and brings
Speaker:me a plastic container igloo container.
Speaker:And she says, here you go.
Speaker:And it's, it's 80 degrees out, maybe not too crazy.
Speaker:Then as soon as she leaves, I. Get rid of the donuts and I empty
Speaker:out the, iced tea thinking that it's, who's gonna leave that?
Speaker:I don't know this person.
Speaker:Yeah, it's tainted or something.
Speaker:And then all of a sudden when I went into work, people are asking me, Hey,
Speaker:did you get dropped off the donuts?
Speaker:And, like people were saying, that's normal behavior here.
Speaker:So I'm saying to myself, what an amazing community that opened up their arms
Speaker:and I wanted to be so a part of it.
Speaker:So at that point in time in my life, I made a big, quick decision, and that
Speaker:was to be involved in the community, to be involved in the church, to be
Speaker:involved in anything I could be involved in that community to make it my home.
Speaker:So the people there would realize I really wanted to be there.
Speaker:I really wanted to be a part of the police department.
Speaker:I wanted to make a difference.
Speaker:And along that journey, I started educating myself
Speaker:about the community I was in.
Speaker:And understanding what was going on around me.
Speaker:and I found out that we lost officers and all of a sudden, who were they?
Speaker:I remember going out, and talking to other officers on my job and
Speaker:they would bring up, I got hired right after, Robert Houtman and
Speaker:Francis Daley, Frank Daley, died.
Speaker:and I'm like, who are they?
Speaker:And, then I started, realizing that, and educating myself and trying to find more.
Speaker:About them.
Speaker:So the, answer to my background is I was very, lucky to be surrounded
Speaker:towards people who cared directly for me and were a part of my life.
Speaker:And they helped me reach my full potential.
Speaker:not only in the very beginning of my career all the way through,
Speaker:I would be remiss not to mention the people I worked with.
Speaker:I, was very lucky in life, to find, this career and I set it at my retirement.
Speaker:If Craig would remember.
Speaker:As he was there, I said I would do this career all over again for free if I
Speaker:was given the longevity and the time to do it, because my experience not every
Speaker:day was great, but most of my career, of being surrounded towards amazing
Speaker:people willing to put on a badge and a gun, and also acknowledge that they
Speaker:could not come home that night, I.
Speaker:Our, I believe, is the greatest gift that you could give to anyone or be around.
Speaker:So I, chose to put myself in that community.
Speaker:I chose to become a brother and a sister to my fellow law enforcement
Speaker:officers, not only in my agency, but all the agencies that surrounded me.
Speaker:And I really wanted to be one of those individuals making a
Speaker:difference, not only by arrests, but by community actions and involvement.
Speaker:Yeah, I was just gonna say, Bill, Bill, first of all, I don't know that
Speaker:you ever told me any stories about you getting donuts and, views from,
Speaker:your, community there in Miami-Dade.
Speaker:I think that may not have, happened down there.
Speaker:We usually would get rocked and bottled or something like
Speaker:that.
Speaker:there different kind of treats.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:now I just wanted to add to it.
Speaker:this is a, neat part of the story and it's.
Speaker:Pure coincidence.
Speaker:my wife Veronica grew up in Florham Park, New Jersey, right?
Speaker:And so I go up there every, year at Christmas, my, in-laws have since passed
Speaker:and I don't make that trip anymore, but for many years I went up there at
Speaker:Christmas and spent a week or so, and, this one year, it was 1996, December.
Speaker:And I got a call from a guy named Jerry Mantone, who was a
Speaker:lieutenant in Madison, New Jersey.
Speaker:Jerry was a good friend.
Speaker:He had helped build the National Law Enforcement Officer's
Speaker:Memorial, and I knew him well.
Speaker:So he said, Craig, there's this guy that wants to meet you and he wants
Speaker:to help, with the Memorial Fund.
Speaker:And I said, sure, let's have lunch.
Speaker:And we did.
Speaker:And it was, of course, pat Montori who walks in with Jerry.
Speaker:We had a wonderful lunch and he told me about this idea he had.
Speaker:he, appreciated the memorial so much, and what it stood for, that
Speaker:he wanted to be a part of it.
Speaker:And he said, I'd love to organize a bicycle ride down to Washington, DC ended
Speaker:at the memorial, but we'll ride 200, 300 miles from New Jersey and, we'll raise
Speaker:money and awareness about, our fallen officers and, help the Memorial Fund.
Speaker:And, I left that meeting.
Speaker:I had so many of these people that wanted to help, and it's a wonderful thing.
Speaker:Everybody loves the memorial.
Speaker:but I was a little, suspect.
Speaker:I, wasn't sure that anybody could organize a bicycle ride for 300
Speaker:miles from New Jersey to Washington.
Speaker:And I kind let it go and, figured maybe I'd never hear from Pat again.
Speaker:But sure enough, may of 1997.
Speaker:Pat comes down, to the memorial after riding 300 miles with 18 riders.
Speaker:And, that was the beginning of the Police Unity Tour in 1997.
Speaker:pat, you have a saying, you did an amazing thing organizing this
Speaker:ride, and it's grown so much.
Speaker:tell our listeners and viewers about the growth from 18 riders in 1997 to
Speaker:what the Unity Tour has become today.
Speaker:Again, it's a hard belief, hard to believe kind of story for me, no matter
Speaker:if I'm traveling somewhere along the line, somebody will say, over the past,
Speaker:29 years, Hey, I'm in the Unity tour.
Speaker:People will say, you'll meet people, and you, this is so hard to believe for me.
Speaker:That, an idea that you had actually touched people, not only in this
Speaker:country, but in multiple countries and has independent, police, unity
Speaker:tour, riots, riot in other countries.
Speaker:So when we first got there with our 18 riders, we never thought that
Speaker:this was going to be an annual event.
Speaker:By the way, I just wanna make that very clear because a lot of people on the
Speaker:first ride, I don't know if Craig will remember, they said, lose my number.
Speaker:Because basically what I did, I just, like Craig said, I had
Speaker:no idea how to run this thing.
Speaker:All I did was have heart, my head, and my will to wanna do something,
Speaker:not demonstrate, not with a sign, something silent, something beautiful,
Speaker:something amazing to remember.
Speaker:Our brothers and sisters who died.
Speaker:That's the only thing we wanted to do.
Speaker:But the problem was I went to AAA in my own community, right in Hanover Road,
Speaker:and I said, how do I get from Washington, from New Jersey to Washington, dc?
Speaker:So they gave me a trip ticket.
Speaker:So basically I looked through it a little bit and figured out
Speaker:what would be the best or ride through there, which really wasn't.
Speaker:It was a lot of hills and a lot of craziness.
Speaker:Hence when we arrived in Washington, everybody was saying two days before we
Speaker:arrived there saying, Hey, lose my number.
Speaker:this is quite difficult.
Speaker:But then when we drove past the Capitol and you took a look over your right
Speaker:shoulder and you saw that beautiful dome, and then you're just passing
Speaker:Constitution Avenue and your heart start in the race, and then you start
Speaker:going closer and closer to where we call home, which is our national law
Speaker:enforcement officer's memorial site.
Speaker:And as soon as we got to the site itself.
Speaker:it's hard to explain.
Speaker:It's almost like I'm home.
Speaker:Welcome home.
Speaker:And as Harry Phillips, our executive director says so beautifully.
Speaker:they're saying, welcome home.
Speaker:All the brothers and sisters are on that wall.
Speaker:And, our ride had a lot of tradition to It it had us educating our riders who they're
Speaker:riding for, contacting their survivors.
Speaker:Taking the bracelet that we had made up from us, made up for us to give
Speaker:to those individuals saying that they rode those 300 miles with us.
Speaker:And then we also carried a dollar, which still goes on to this very day.
Speaker:This dollar represents the token or the donation from the officer on the wall.
Speaker:We carried their, donation that, which they would've been.
Speaker:On a bicycle if they could have, but they were, because they rode alongside and
Speaker:on our heart and in our chest and in our heads and everywhere we could possibly be.
Speaker:When it was tough going up a hill when the weather was just trying, when
Speaker:your emotions got ahead of you and you felt so, overwhelmed by what you
Speaker:were trying to accomplish, and that there were so many odds in some cases
Speaker:against you, when you're not a person who rides a bicycle every single day.
Speaker:And this takes just more background.
Speaker:the Unity Tour takes all year long for that officer to be a part of it.
Speaker:They have to be educated through many meetings.
Speaker:They have to be trained.
Speaker:We have to make sure that they're safe and that they're wearing
Speaker:all the proper gear and it's not just get on a bicycle and drive.
Speaker:This organization, like I said, is surrounded towards the most amazing
Speaker:presidents of all our nine chapters, delegates representation of our ride
Speaker:marshals, our safety, our motorcycles.
Speaker:We are a city, small city going across four states in one district with
Speaker:ambulances and all different types of things that you know we need to make so
Speaker:we don't deplete the resources of our brothers and sisters along our ride.
Speaker:We mess up traffic enough.
Speaker:We wanna make sure that we don't mess up the emotion of what
Speaker:we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker:We're not trying to hang a sign on our bike saying, Hey, we're
Speaker:against one person or another.
Speaker:We're against this what someone may say.
Speaker:We're not against anything.
Speaker:All we're for is making sure we're a member of our fallen.
Speaker:And we let our citizens know that we serve them and we serve them with honor.
Speaker:And we want to make sure that they realize that we do it with dignity
Speaker:and respect and we make mistakes.
Speaker:We're human beings and that's.
Speaker:One of the reasons why I believe this grow from, it grew from 18 riders to
Speaker:2000 riders from an $18,000 donation annually to a $2.2 million donation
Speaker:annually to over $40 million total.
Speaker:For our, first that we've given to the national law
Speaker:enforcement memorial and museum.
Speaker:So did I realize that this was gonna go from 18 to 2000 riders to
Speaker:be from here to Germany, to Italy, to Israel, to other countries?
Speaker:No, but what I didn't never, what I never questioned was the honor and
Speaker:dignity of everybody that was around me, that they showed this true val honor
Speaker:and unbelievable amount of care and responsibility to be a part of the tour.
Speaker:No matter what promotion I go to for somebody or event from another agency,
Speaker:you know what they write on their resume?
Speaker:Member of the police Unity Tour member for five years, seven years.
Speaker:They don't only just say they're a member.
Speaker:Once they say they wanna let everybody know that they were member for years,
Speaker:because to get that jersey on you, you have to earn it to get that white, blue,
Speaker:and white jacket that we call our uniform.
Speaker:You have to earn it.
Speaker:You have to be a part of it.
Speaker:You have to understand we're trying to do, it's not just about riding that bicycle.
Speaker:It's about educating not only the community that's communities and states
Speaker:we go through, but educating everybody on that bicycle about their own
Speaker:agency who s suffered and sacrificed.
Speaker:Themselves for them and their community so they there can educate others so
Speaker:they're not forgotten, especially historicals as Craig did an amazing
Speaker:job for many years, making sure for those who died, not in the active
Speaker:years, but in the previous historical years, dating back to the 17 hundreds,
Speaker:those individuals are not forgotten.
Speaker:And that's a plug that I, always bring back when I speak about Craig
Speaker:was his idea to make sure that.
Speaker:Our research department was very thorough that we were the depository in the
Speaker:memorial to make sure that those names would never be forgotten and investigated.
Speaker:like I said, the Unity Tour grew from 18 to 2100, but we did it as a
Speaker:partnership, a true partnership with the memorial over the past 29, 30 years.
Speaker:pat, you,
Speaker:you guys essentially, you ride.
Speaker:For those that have died, and I'm not sure if we've hit on it yet, but it's
Speaker:my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't each officer carry
Speaker:something that represents who they are personally representing that has died
Speaker:in the line of duty and talk about that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:E every rider that comes on the tour, if they select a specific officer or we give
Speaker:them an officer, it'll be on a bracelet.
Speaker:And, those bracelets are engraved within with the end of watch the
Speaker:agency and the location of where they're gonna be engraved on the wall
Speaker:or were already engraved on the wall.
Speaker:And that they're all given to the officers, that, ride on the tour.
Speaker:And they are to educate themselves regarding that officer, what
Speaker:took place, the story, and to also contact if they can, their
Speaker:survivors, and if they're willing.
Speaker:To meet us when we arrive in Washington, so we could let them know how much we
Speaker:cared and respected their loved one, and that we wanna make sure that we
Speaker:let them know that they were a part of, what we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker:And that's their stories to be told, their memories to be continual, but
Speaker:their duty never to be forgotten.
Speaker:We know the, at the end of each, police week, the Memorial Fund
Speaker:staff and the museum staff.
Speaker:Go to the memorial wall where people have left mementos, thousands of them,
Speaker:the wall has literally come alive.
Speaker:I like to say during National Police Week where people remind you that these
Speaker:are more than just names and numbers.
Speaker:These are families that have been ripped apart by the loss of a loved
Speaker:one, but they're truly treasured, the memories and truly honored.
Speaker:pat, interestingly, you were talking there and I had so many
Speaker:thoughts that came to mind.
Speaker:Number one, I just wanted to make sure everybody saw a photograph of, the two
Speaker:officers that were really helpful in, getting the unity tore off the ground.
Speaker:that's Detective Frank Daley and Patrolman Robert Houtman.
Speaker:they died in 1975 in a, plane crash.
Speaker:They were on a reconnaissance mission looking for marijuana fields when
Speaker:they're playing, experienced mechanical problems, and they crashed and died.
Speaker:so those were the beginning, but, there was something else when you were talking,
Speaker:you were talking about how when you arrive at the memorial and how you've raised
Speaker:$40 million to support the Memorial Fund and, I've said to some of my closest
Speaker:friends, I've said, I. There was a survivor once who told me that, Craig,
Speaker:I'm so glad that you remain, strong.
Speaker:during our various ceremonies during National Police Week and throughout
Speaker:the year, the candlelight vigil especially, she said, if, you break
Speaker:down, we're, all gonna crumble because we're counting on you for some strength.
Speaker:And, and yet I, I tell people that the only time I've ever lost it really, and
Speaker:could not speak, because my, emotions got the best of me was, a couple
Speaker:of years when the police Unity tour arrived in Washington at the memorial
Speaker:and I watched these riders come in.
Speaker:Their knees.
Speaker:Many of them had, fallen, they were bleeding.
Speaker:they were clearly exhausted from the trip, but when they arrived at the memorial,
Speaker:it just, the looks on their faces, it, was, it just meant so much to them.
Speaker:And then you, presented me with checks for, I don't know, it
Speaker:started out with, $18,000, a thousand for each of the riders.
Speaker:And like you said, it increased every year.
Speaker:And I think the first year it got to be $600,000 a million dollars.
Speaker:I just lost it.
Speaker:I could not speak the fact that these men and women were doing so much to,
Speaker:support the memorial and it meant so much to them that it truly touched
Speaker:me and affected me in a good way.
Speaker:and I'll always, remember tho those moments.
Speaker:tell me about.
Speaker:something that, that extraordinary really happened.
Speaker:you expanded the Police Unity tour to Israel, and I happen to be on
Speaker:that first trip with you, and I think it's, continued over the years.
Speaker:help me, correct me if I'm wrong, but, it's an amazing thing that, the police in
Speaker:Israel and the police here in the United States of America have really, found a
Speaker:bond thanks to the Police Unity Tour.
Speaker:How did that come about?
Speaker:it's the most unique thing.
Speaker:we have,
Speaker:a member, Mike Sa, Fri, who, goes back and forth to Israel, is a deputy sheriff
Speaker:here in, in new, in, New Jersey with the Essex County Sheriff's Department.
Speaker:for many years he was going back and forth and, he was talking about this
Speaker:ride and he had asked for, he had, Israeli, border patrol and other police
Speaker:officers come visit him during this time.
Speaker:And they were in Washington and they saw us come in.
Speaker:They wanted to be involved.
Speaker:And then, somehow, we were able to communicate and we
Speaker:did, and they came with us.
Speaker:And it was probably around, I would say 2000 and, I don't know, 10 would
Speaker:be the first year that they came.
Speaker:And then, as they started to come, more and more, riders wanted to come, and then
Speaker:we started sending contingents over, to Israel as they were honoring our fall.
Speaker:And we wanted to honor their, fallen.
Speaker:And also they wanted to show what they did for us for nine 11.
Speaker:'cause a lot of us here in the New Jersey and New York area were rescue
Speaker:workers during nine 11 and realized they sacrificed not only of those
Speaker:who died on that very tragic day, but those who suffer illnesses thereafter
Speaker:and continue to be put on the wall.
Speaker:So they wanted to, and of their own money, they over a couple million dollars, made
Speaker:a monument and a memorial in Israel.
Speaker:for our nine 11, rescue workers as well as those for the future names to go on.
Speaker:It was very unique that year.
Speaker:If I may say something personal, Craig was on the, our first inaugural ride.
Speaker:It was so important for us to go over because we were gonna, for the first
Speaker:time, be on the soil in Israel and ride our bicycles for those who died,
Speaker:whether it was the police or the IDF or the military, or border patrol, whoever
Speaker:it was in Israel, we wanted to do the same that they've been doing for us for
Speaker:many, years By coming to our country and honoring our fallen, we wanted to
Speaker:reciprocate and do something beautiful.
Speaker:And we did.
Speaker:So we traveled out there in 2015, the year that I was retiring.
Speaker:during that period of time, we scheduled a bicycle ride and also many
Speaker:types of, events that were gonna be going on during a period of 10 days.
Speaker:during that timeframe, I suffered a massive heart attack and almost
Speaker:died in the desert of o Faki.
Speaker:I was saved by the gentleman by the name of Igal Lutz, and
Speaker:Igal came with us from the very beginning and happened to be there.
Speaker:And if I, if he didn't carry me out of the desert and get me into a Humvee and
Speaker:get me to a hospital, I probably wouldn't be sitting on this podcast with you.
Speaker:Amazing gentleman.
Speaker:Being able to talk about the wonderful things the police Unity tour does and
Speaker:what the memorial means to us all.
Speaker:He gave me a second chance.
Speaker:I changed my whole life.
Speaker:After that, I became more.
Speaker:Responsive to the little things and realizing that, I could
Speaker:do more and why am I here?
Speaker:And I was so thankful for that opportunity.
Speaker:So when I said nothing's ever by accident in life, nothing is, the
Speaker:growth of this organization, us going to, Israel or other countries,
Speaker:England, who has their own ride.
Speaker:More so in, a personal aspect where I fell in of Faki was about 8.5
Speaker:kilometers from where Jesus was born.
Speaker:I was next to the only tree that I, the only way I could describe where I fell.
Speaker:We were riding bicycles in the desert that everybody thinks like this soft dust.
Speaker:It's not soft dust.
Speaker:It's like rock hard.
Speaker:It, it's not you can't jump out of a plane like you see on TV and,
Speaker:fall into the sand and be okay.
Speaker:you fall into that, you're, it's like falling on concrete.
Speaker:So when I had my heart attack, I rolled on my side and I'm looking
Speaker:to the left northeast of me, and I'm looking up and I see this tree.
Speaker:It's deformed, like.
Speaker:Making a right hand turn.
Speaker:I don't know what it was, but it was going, growing, maybe only 10 feet tall.
Speaker:And it was the same tree that the thorns that were in Jesus' head,
Speaker:and that's the tree that when I came back to show my wife where I fell and
Speaker:being thankful that I am alive in 21 and 2021, I buried a heart next to
Speaker:that tree explaining why I couldn't bury it because it was concrete sand.
Speaker:So I put stones over it and he all asked me.
Speaker:He says, what if someone takes it or picks it up or takes those stones away?
Speaker:And I says, God bless them.
Speaker:I hope they do.
Speaker:I hope they get the same gift.
Speaker:I've been given the opportunity to be around all of you and the opportunity
Speaker:to be able to have a say in the world that I believe and love so much, and
Speaker:that's the law enforcement community and the emergency services community.
Speaker:Unfortunately, let me
Speaker:add one thing to that story, pat.
Speaker:And in typical male fashion, pat was refusing medical aid that day.
Speaker:He, said he, yeah, I feel fine.
Speaker:I'll be fine, no problem.
Speaker:And, if anybody had listened to him, he wouldn't be with us here today.
Speaker:But, that, that's a typical guy's response to a pretty, crisis situation.
Speaker:and, none of us wanna admit when we have some medical issues.
Speaker:let's talk about, memorable moments, in the ride.
Speaker:you've been doing it now for, I guess this is your close to
Speaker:your 28th, 29th year of riding.
Speaker:I'll share one quick memory.
Speaker:I have, I usually ride the first 20 or 30 miles in the old days with the police
Speaker:Unity tour just to kick it off and get me pumped up for National Police Week and all
Speaker:the ceremonies that are about to occur.
Speaker:'cause it really does touch you.
Speaker:And it's right after nine 11 and, we, wanted to go to ground zero
Speaker:where, 71 officers died in the line of duty when, the terrorists
Speaker:attacked, back on nine 11 2001.
Speaker:And we, had closed off.
Speaker:I say we, the police, in, their, amazing ability closed off the Holland Tunnel.
Speaker:To get us from New Jersey into New York to ground zero.
Speaker:And there's a lot of angry motorists probably that are still angry to
Speaker:this day, but they closed it off so that hundreds of bicyclists, police
Speaker:officers, survivors of the fallen could ride their bikes into ground zero.
Speaker:And as I was entering Holland Tunnel.
Speaker:to get to ground zero, I made a typical rookie mistake and I ran
Speaker:over a grate that flattened my tire on my bike, and here I am.
Speaker:I don't know how long the Hol Holland Tunnel is, but it seemed endless.
Speaker:I'm riding my bike with a flat tire.
Speaker:I was the last to arrive at ground zero.
Speaker:But it was one of the most moving ceremonies, I've ever experienced
Speaker:to be there while they were still doing the re recovery work.
Speaker:and finding, remnants of bodies and, the smell I'll never forget.
Speaker:but we had an amazing ceremony there of remembrance.
Speaker:And Pat, I know you probably have a few memories like that stand out in
Speaker:your mind over these last 30 years.
Speaker:could you share a couple of 'em with us?
Speaker:like I said, we brought other people from other countries and,
Speaker:Craig was talking about being in New York, going through them.
Speaker:the, tunnel was probably one of the most amazing things that it's 1.5
Speaker:miles in, 1.5 miles out, three miles.
Speaker:I've had the opportunity of doing it a couple of times and even
Speaker:running through it thereafter.
Speaker:September 11th, 2001.
Speaker:But, we had ride, we had motorcycles from Italy, and,
Speaker:you know how everybody wants to,
Speaker:trade patches and trade uniform things off your uniform?
Speaker:So we are getting, close to Washington DC Somebody comes up to me and says,
Speaker:Hey, we have a little bit of a problem.
Speaker:I said, what's the problem?
Speaker:He says, the Italian officers don't have their address uniforms any longer.
Speaker:I said, what happened to them?
Speaker:And, nobody had an answer.
Speaker:of course, at the end of the day, I grabbed the motor officers and I say,
Speaker:Hey, what happened to your stuff?
Speaker:And they said, New York.
Speaker:I said, what?
Speaker:They steal it?
Speaker:They go, no, we gave it away.
Speaker:I got a patch.
Speaker:Like he got a patch.
Speaker:He gave away a $400, dress blouse for the officers on the screen here.
Speaker:You would say to yourself, you can't give that stuff away.
Speaker:I was one of them.
Speaker:They gave me one, which was nice, but you know that, that year.
Speaker:everybody was in their dress blouses, but they were wearing their blue and
Speaker:white unity tour jackets because they weren't, able to ride, with their
Speaker:uniforms on because they gave 'em away.
Speaker:And, the, things that happen on the tour or,
Speaker:every year there's something amazing that happens in my, in, my
Speaker:mind that is, is always memorable.
Speaker:flagman and the school kids.
Speaker:I, love that story.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Say that again.
Speaker:Flagman and the school children along the way.
Speaker:to me that was one of the greatest things that these kids come out and Oh,
Speaker:yeah.
Speaker:Scott Hague actually went to the police academy with him.
Speaker:we call him Batman.
Speaker:that's his name.
Speaker:And, and everybody calls him, the kids call him Flagman.
Speaker:He gives out 5,000 flags.
Speaker:To every kid that we, it's the most amazing thing.
Speaker:If someone would tell me that people hate police officers,
Speaker:I would tell you that's a lie.
Speaker:That's media driven.
Speaker:That's individual aspects or momentarily issues that go on around our country
Speaker:that may a law enforcement may be involved in, and it may be negative.
Speaker:When I travel through four states and one district, I watch people
Speaker:slap pots and pans together.
Speaker:This young man, Scott Hay, going from one side of the road to
Speaker:the other, giving out flags.
Speaker:High fiving children, teachers from schools that are coming out and waving.
Speaker:The most important thing for everybody to realize from this podcast, and they're
Speaker:asking me what I believe, and I believe that we are all together, the citizens,
Speaker:law enforcement, emergency responders.
Speaker:We see it when the chips are down, especially like September 11th
Speaker:or whatever goes on in our world.
Speaker:People care about us.
Speaker:However, sometimes we're all misinformed about what truly goes
Speaker:on during some of these incidences.
Speaker:That's why, they go left or people wanna make us look bad.
Speaker:So that's one of the things that I've always seen going on the ride
Speaker:that makes me feel really special.
Speaker:Makes me feel like these.
Speaker:Individual groups of people that come out, they understand who we are.
Speaker:We're going over a bridge.
Speaker:It's so beautiful.
Speaker:It looks like a sea of blue.
Speaker:And then all of a sudden at the end of the bridge, there's people there.
Speaker:How do they get there?
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:They're sitting there slinging pots and pans, big four by
Speaker:eight sheets of, plywood.
Speaker:They write things on it.
Speaker:We love you, remember this?
Speaker:Or they put a, the number of where their loved one is on the wall.
Speaker:It.
Speaker:It's just the emotion that drives people through and the stories.
Speaker:There's no rank on this tour.
Speaker:You, we could have a director of the FBI or the DEA or any of the federal agencies
Speaker:or any of the local municipal county and state organ, law enforcement entities.
Speaker:There's no rank.
Speaker:You could be a one year patrolman talking to the director.
Speaker:We want that to happen.
Speaker:Like I said, it's not a demonstration.
Speaker:To me, the greatest thing is, that we are not here to hold up signs saying,
Speaker:here we are, and I, wanna say something that I don't want to be disrespectful.
Speaker:Anybody can take a check and mail it or drive it to the person they're going to
Speaker:give it to, but not everybody is going to be showing you who they really are.
Speaker:The Unity Tour shows you who law enforcement really is through
Speaker:weather, through emotion.
Speaker:Through physical duress, through just the point of where you don't know
Speaker:if you could make it or not, and you rely upon your partner to the left,
Speaker:the right, the front, and behind you.
Speaker:The miraculous things I see is that I watch a rider pointing out
Speaker:a hole, so the person behind him or in front of him doesn't go into it.
Speaker:I have someone pulling off to the side to make sure that they
Speaker:help push somebody up a hill.
Speaker:You want to succeed that has tried so hard, lost 35 pounds to be on this
Speaker:ride, to be a part of what they feel to be the greatest thing in their career.
Speaker:And that's, like I said earlier, it's on everybody's resume.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:Because it's real.
Speaker:It's believable, it's honest, and it's true.
Speaker:And the greatest thing, Craig to think about it is that I have the
Speaker:opportunity to be a part of it.
Speaker:I may be the CEO and founder, but I am one spoke that creates 46
Speaker:spokes in that wheel to make it be sound appropriate, true, and right.
Speaker:I couldn't do this without the people.
Speaker:Harry Phillips, Timmy Quinn, hundreds of people.
Speaker:Gil Curtis.
Speaker:Tina and, John Ganser, hundreds of people.
Speaker:I don't want to just mention names, but I want to tell you that everybody
Speaker:I've been surrounding around myself around has been nothing but the best of
Speaker:the best in law enforcement, and being thankful to be a part of their lives to
Speaker:me is the greatest gift God could give
Speaker:me.
Speaker:So Pat, just a couple of quick follow up questions from what
Speaker:you were just describing.
Speaker:So the first one would be.
Speaker:So all these people come out and you say they're, they're banging
Speaker:the pots and pans together, and then the plywood signs and whatnot.
Speaker:Do they know you're coming because you take the exact same route
Speaker:on the same date every year?
Speaker:Number one question, is that, how they know you're coming and
Speaker:the second In some cases, yes.
Speaker:In some cases,
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:like anything else, the world has every, they're always spending money on
Speaker:road construction, so we get detoured.
Speaker:And the last minutes, we have to get permits for the streets.
Speaker:We have to make sure that there's Porter John's in the areas where we take breaks.
Speaker:And thank God for Target as a sponsor.
Speaker:We use their locations as a part of our stops, which we stop every 25 miles to
Speaker:make sure that we regroup and make sure that our riders are together and check
Speaker:out their, physical and mental status.
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:The people along the route eventually know we're coming.
Speaker:They don't know exactly.
Speaker:Sometimes, we may deviate from those tour, those, road areas depending upon,
Speaker:whether they're gonna be milling a street or they're gonna be putting in
Speaker:any type of other street work going on.
Speaker:But mostly we try to take relatively the same routes.
Speaker:we permit them out and doing when we do, so that also alerts the
Speaker:community and letting them know that we're gonna be coming through.
Speaker:And the other thing is that, like I said earlier, we try not to task
Speaker:the agencies that we go through.
Speaker:Some towns are very small popula with law enforcement,
Speaker:not like huge thousand members.
Speaker:Some of them may have only 25, 30.
Speaker:Officers, and it may only be allowed to have one when, if, when we come through
Speaker:with thousands of riders, that's wow.
Speaker:and we don't want to create a detriment.
Speaker:we coordinate with them.
Speaker:So again, by us coordinating with those smaller entities, I. Those communities
Speaker:put it out to their citizens to let them know we're coming through so that they can
Speaker:detour and have the ability to go to work.
Speaker:Because unfortunately, we've stopped weddings sometimes for a little while.
Speaker:people getting ready to go to school as teachers and sometimes these are wonderful
Speaker:notes I received there after the ride.
Speaker:And we hope that, we're able to send something back.
Speaker:And 90% of the time we're the people that we upset them in that way.
Speaker:They, at the end of whatever they write us, they always say, we
Speaker:understand what you're trying to do.
Speaker:I just wanted to be heard.
Speaker:And for those who are listening on, for this podcast, who that has been
Speaker:a part of their life, each may as we travel through their communities, I
Speaker:want to say thank you for your patience.
Speaker:And I wanna say thank you for being a part of the opportunity to see
Speaker:a ride that honors our fallen.
Speaker:And we'll never forget the 24,000 plus names that are on that wall.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:So the other part of the question here is you hit on it briefly
Speaker:about what does each rider bring.
Speaker:So is each rider responsible?
Speaker:I. For bringing in the funds, each person individually goes out and raises
Speaker:money on behalf of the whole group.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Each rider is, raises raises $2,100.
Speaker:we guarantee $1,000 to the memorial each year.
Speaker:The other is the cost to get that rider there, insurances and everything else
Speaker:to make sure that, they're safe, the food and all the things necessary.
Speaker:For, that rider to, get to Washington, DC
Speaker:we raised in the last couple of years, each year, around 2.1 million to 2.3
Speaker:million to, staying above the, north of 2 million as we've been raising
Speaker:over the last eight, nine years now.
Speaker:Amazing.
Speaker:I told you about, how it affects me when I see these checks.
Speaker:who gives you a check for over $2 million every year for the last 10 or so years?
Speaker:it's totally incredible.
Speaker:One of the things, and we'll close it out here with a couple quick questions,
Speaker:but first I want you to tell everybody, you probably got some people excited
Speaker:about maybe becoming part of the Police Unity tour, either as a writer or.
Speaker:A support crew member, but also maybe people that just wanna send a donation
Speaker:to help support such a worthy cause.
Speaker:where can they go for more information?
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Yes, we have, all different, social media, opportunities for people.
Speaker:Our, website is probably the clearest place to go to, www.PoliceUnityTour.com,
Speaker:that will direct every person to where they have to go.
Speaker:It also will give you the opportunity, they'll take a look at the other
Speaker:chapters, if that is closer in your venue.
Speaker:New Jersey, chapter one.
Speaker:maybe.
Speaker:Not able for you to make that ride there, but you wanted to go from the
Speaker:Virginia ride or, from the Philly ride, depending upon where we're coming from.
Speaker:So the best place to, to do that would be, on our website, but it'll also
Speaker:show you our other socials, whether it's YouTube, whether it's, Patreon,
Speaker:whether it happens to be all the different socials, Facebook, TikTok,
Speaker:all the different, variables for any.
Speaker:Person to take a look.
Speaker:So we make sure that we hit all the age groups from 18 all the way
Speaker:up to, retirees and thereafter.
Speaker:So we have that ability to reach that.
Speaker:and I forgot I'd be remiss to say something that really, and Craig, you
Speaker:had asked what was something wonderful on a ride that really struck you watching
Speaker:generations of law enforcement officers, my closest friend, Harry Phillips,
Speaker:watching him and his son ride up the hill.
Speaker:In New Jersey, and I had to, I could barely keep my eyes dry.
Speaker:his son became a cop.
Speaker:they're after him.
Speaker:They both were cops at the same time.
Speaker:And, to watch the generation, go from father to son and then to hear people to
Speaker:say, I have, my son and now my grandson.
Speaker:And to me, I had the opportunity of having my son before he was deployed.
Speaker:He's a Marine, and he came on the tour with us too.
Speaker:So the honor to see a generational thing, to hear the word 30
Speaker:or to hear the numbers, 29 or 30 years, something going on.
Speaker:And Craig, I gotta say to you, a long time ago we said, what makes this happen?
Speaker:And the best thing is it's believable, believability.
Speaker:I. People honor and respect things when they believe in it, and that's when we
Speaker:see what crisis does It need to be around the world for everybody to get together.
Speaker:We don't need a crisis.
Speaker:All the things that we see around us is interpretations of different media people.
Speaker:To me, I stayed focused, like I said, after 2015.
Speaker:My heart attack, I focus on not the negative.
Speaker:I focus on how to create the picture that I hope to see, am
Speaker:honored to see and desire to see.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Hey, pat, you've done it my friend.
Speaker:This is, what an amazing, visit we've had with you.
Speaker:You've been very generous with your time and your wonderful stories,
Speaker:and, I can't thank you enough.
Speaker:I. On behalf of Heroes Behind the Badge for joining us.
Speaker:I also thank you for your service and thanks for sharing
Speaker:all your amazing stories.
Speaker:There's a quote that I'd like to close with that I remember.
Speaker:I'm not sure who said it, but I think it's appropriate to describe
Speaker:you and your organization.
Speaker:The quote goes like this, those who cannot forget are as heroic.
Speaker:As those who cannot remember, you are truly a hero behind the badge you're
Speaker:making sure that we will never forget.
Speaker:And we thank you for that.
Speaker:Thanks for being our guest.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I appreciate that's Pat, very much appreciate,
Speaker:we appreciate you my friend.
Speaker:I gotta add one thing.
Speaker:If we didn't have Craig Floyd with his push and tenacity for
Speaker:that memorial to be a reality.
Speaker:It still wouldn't be there, Agreed.
Speaker:I'll say the memorial
Speaker:and the museum.
Speaker:Let's figure museum.
Speaker:Roger that.
Speaker:Roger that.
Speaker:But
Speaker:the biggest hurdle was that having that memorial originally, it was many
Speaker:years we had it without the museum.
Speaker:and willingly, I always say, it should have been there years ago.
Speaker:we're a living memorial.
Speaker:But I would be remiss if I didn't say that, there was a lot of
Speaker:opportunities to say we can't do it.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:but there was always the one voice that was coming from, and that was
Speaker:Craig's making sure that we did.
Speaker:So I wanna say thank you for honoring my brothers and sisters and
Speaker:thank you for being a part of our partnership and to this very day,
Speaker:what you're trying to accomplish.
Speaker:And that is to be a part of something greater than us all, and that's
Speaker:to remember respect and honor those who honor and respect us.
Speaker:So thank you.
Speaker:it couldn't be said any better, my friend.
Speaker:And, again, your words and your actions, do a lot to show us who you are and
Speaker:we appreciate you and all you do.
Speaker:My honor.
Speaker:that's gonna wind it up for this episode of Heroes Behind the Badge.
Speaker:we tell real stories about real cops.
Speaker:We expose the fake news about the police, and we give you.
Speaker:The Real Truth.
Speaker:This podcast is brought to you by Citizens Behind the Badge, the leading
Speaker:voice of the American people in support of the men and women of law enforcement.
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Speaker:their support to law enforcement Citizens Behind the Badge.org.
Speaker:That's Citizens Behind the Badge.org.
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