Daily Herald opinion: Glen Ellyn Police chief arms officers with protection from a different kind of risk — skin cancer

Glen Ellyn Police Chief Philip Norton recently addressed the village board on a department initiative aimed at protecting officers from one of the rarely considered risks of their jobs: skin cancer.

Norton knows firsthand how harmful the sun’s rays can be, and he recently shared his story with our Cops & Crime columnists Charles Keeshan and Susan Sarkauskas.

Norton’s life was changed — and likely saved — after the death of beloved “Margaritaville” singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett.

In a news report about Buffet’s death from Merkel cell carcinoma in September, a doctor recommend getting “a pimple that won't heal” checked out by a doctor. Norton heeded that advice and was diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma, a highly treatable form of skin cancer. A Mohs surgery followed.

But that was only the beginning of Norton’s battle.

A nurse cleaning him up after the procedure noticed other spots on Norton’s face. Those, it turned out, were symptoms of amelanotic melanomas ‒ a deadlier form of skin cancer that led to a more extensive surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and a scar that extends from under his ear to the back side of his neck.

Norton doesn’t want other officers going through the same ordeal.

He explained that police officers can spend hours in the sun. Sometimes, they expect to be there and can prepare for the stint. Other times, they find themselves outside unexpectedly for long stretches as they secure a crime screen or direct traffic at a crash site.

And many have only a baseball-style cap shielding them from the sun’s harmful rays.

“We’re killing these guys,” Norton said. “We’re exposing them to something dangerous.”

So Norton has taken action: He installed sunscreen dispensers in the locker rooms at the Glen Ellyn police station and encourages officers to apply the 30 SPF lotion before heading out the station door.

Now, those dispensers are included at Glen Ellyn’s public works department and a village-owned golf course as well.

In addition, Norton urges his officers to use the department’s new bucket hats instead of baseball caps, which don’t protect the back of the neck or wearers’ ears. The look might be a little less formal, but it offers something more important: extra protection.

Norton’s push is an important one — and not just for Glen Ellyn. He’s talking with other chiefs about the initiative, and we would love to see departments across the country follow suit. Better hats and conveniently placed sunscreen offer simple yet highly effective ways to protect those called upon to protect the rest of us.

Norton told the village board that Jimmy Buffett saved his life.

Norton, in turn, may be saving many more.