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 "Taking Care of Our Own"Story & Pictures by Perry Speth, CCPOA State Secretary The snappy slogan of the Correctional Peace Officers Foundations is much more than lip service from the organization whose primary function is to do just that: to take care of the surviving family members of fellow officers killed in the line of duty. Their annual Project 2000 Event is a perfect example. The Correctional Peace Officers Foundation was founded in the early 1980s on the idea that though most other law enforcement organizations had various widows-and-orphans-type support groups in place, the corrections profession did not. Declaring its initial goals of supporting and assisting the survivors of slain correctional officers, and promoting and projecting a positive image of the professional correctional peace officer, CPOF was created in 1984. Over the years, its goals and functions have grown with the organization.  A special priority for CPOF each year is its Project 2000, an event that honors the courage and dedication of the nation's correctional peace officers killed in the line of duty the previous year. The four-day gathering for correctional officers and their families includes seminars, support group sessions, and a Sunday prayer breakfast that closes the event each year. In addition, a luncheon is held in tribute to officers severely assaulted or injured in the line of duty.This past June, CPOF held its 17th annual Project 2000 National Memorial Service in St. Louis, Missouri. The service was held with a great deal of ceremony, with Honor Guards and Color Guards from all over the nation participating in honor of the fallen heroes. The event also included a performance by the New York Department of Corrections Pipe Band, a stirring and emotional part of the ceremony. During the event, the surviving family members of the fallen officers are escorted to the podium where they are presented with a commemorative plaque and a framed, folded American flag. The corrections profession is full of people whose many heroic acts are never published in newspapers. Thankfully, CPOF recognizes that the stories of heroism coming from behind the walls deserve to be told and the victimized officers deserve to be honored. This year, CPOF also acknowledged the corrections officers from New York's bloody Attica Prison riot of 1971, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd of about 500 gathered on the steps of Kiener Plaza.  During the nearly week-long event, CPOF pays particular care to the children in attendance, many from fallen families. Many of the organizers and caregivers are themselves survivors, losing someone in the line of duty years ago, who return to Project each year to emotionally support the newest members of the group. It is a wonderful and necessary program. Children who are mourning a parent's death are comforted by others who know just what they are going through. At the prayer breakfast, the kids entertain the other attendees by singing songs they have practiced during some of their time together. It is by far the most emotional event of the whole week, and the thunderous applause for the children is tempered with tears of compassion for them. For as little as $5 a month, you, too, can belong to CPOF, an organization whose only purpose is to help the families of correctional peace officers during their greatest times of need. CPOF volunteers even assisted the officers affected by Hurricane Katrina. Food, water, and supplies were distributed to the officers who were forced to stay at their institutions for weeks on end, with little to no sleep, as the prisons were flooded and without power. CPOF assists families of officers in need, whether or not they are members. How many other organizations do you know that can make that claim? I encourage all to attend a CPOF Project 2000 event -- next year's will be June 21 - 24, in Philadelphia. I don't know of anything else that has given me more pride in my profession than honoring those who have given so much to ensure the rest of us safer communities in which to live.   Print This PageBack to Volume 23, Issue 4 Back to PEACEKeeper Main Page |
