Booster group offering signs of support for Palatine police officers
Palatine residents belonging to a nonprofit group supporting the police department hope others join them in showing appreciation for the village's finest next month.
Members of the Palatine PD Boosters are behind a yard sign effort that'll coincide with National Police Week from May 12-18.
"We're hoping to have a couple hundred of these signs, or even more, all around town," said John Robeznieks, the group's president. "And so when the officers drive around for patrol, they'll just see how grateful the community is to have them risking their lives."
Featuring a blue badge in the middle, the signs read: "We Support The Palatine PD. Thank You For Your Service."
Robeznieks and other graduates from the Palatine Citizen Police Academy started the nonprofit boosters organization shortly after completing the course in late 2017. Robeznieks said the sign effort is among the ways residents continue to back local law enforcement.
Beth Ruehrdanz, vice president of the Palatine PD Boosters and a 2017 citizen academy graduate, said volunteers plan to start selling the signs in earnest May 4-5 in front of the village's Jewel-Osco stores on Dundee Road and Plum Grove Road. Volunteers also will be at Eurofresh Market along Northwest Highway on May 4-5 and May 11-12.
Signs will sell for $10 to cover printing costs. Ruehrdanz said a couple more sale locations may be added.
The effort also will include volunteers encouraging Palatine businesses with message boards to show support during National Police Week.
"Hopefully, that week will be just really cool for the officers driving around and seeing that, 'Wow, my town really does care about me. They know I'm here and that they appreciate me,'" Ruehrdanz said.
In its short time, the Palatine PD Boosters has provided Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to department employees working those days and assisted authorities in a prescription drug take-back program outside police headquarters in October. The nonprofit held a golf fundraiser in September to generate money for goals that include providing support and manpower at police-sponsored events, helping on community outreach and organizing recreational outings for officers and their families.
National Police Week involves several organizations honoring U.S. law enforcement. The main organizers include the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, Fraternal Order of Police/Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary and Concerns of Police Survivors.