PLAINFIELD — This weekend, the community has a chance to memorialize fallen law enforcement officers in Indiana to make sure their survivors know they are not forgotten.
This event will be a little different this year, but the message is still the same: honoring the fallen officers and survivors they left behind.
In 2019, there were two line-of-duty deaths in Indiana and both of those men who served their communities are on the resource truck outside of the law enforcement department in Plainfield — Chief David Hewitt of the Rising Sun Police Department and trooper Peter"Bo" Stephan with the Indiana State Police.
The 19th annual "Cops Cycling for Survivors Bike Ride" was initially scheduled for July but was postponed to September due to the pandemic. In a typical year, active and retired officers, along with the survivors of fallen law enforcement officers, bike 1,000 across Indiana over the course of 13 days.
But this year it will take place in one day, on Saturday.
"One of my best friends was a police officer over in Texas who was killed in the line of duty. I've been directly affected. I know what the survivors go through," Lt. Bryant Orem said. "It's one of those things where there is an outpour of public support whenever an officer is killed. But then its just human nature that dies out, but the survivors are left with a huge hole in their heart for the rest of their lives. We want to make sure that hole in some small way is filled."
Money was raised to help memorialize officers killed in the line of duty and help their surviving family members and co-workers.
People are encouraged to go out there between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday to ride alongside active and retired officers as they remember the fallen officers and survivors left behind.
