A former police officer on a charitable mission to drive his motorcycle to the Capitols of all 50 states rode into Hartford on Friday morning seeking to raise money for the families of fallen cops.
Before becoming CEO of NIC Inc, an online service provider to government agencies, Harry Herington was a police officer in Texas and Kansas. In his free time, Herington has driven his custom Harley Davidson to the Capitol buildings of 28 different states. He’s planning to get to all of them.
At each of his stops, Herington, who founded the group Ride4Cops, writes a personal check and encourages others to donate money to Concerns Of Police Survivors, another group which seeks to support the families of police officers who have been killed.
Herington refers to his bike as a rolling memorial. The motorcycle is custom painted with an images of Saint Michael and law enforcement badges. Herington’s said the attached pins of miniature badges are there commemorate officers whose families he’s met along the way.
“I’m riding that motorcycle to all 50 state Capitols to raise awareness of the dangers of law enforcement and to thank our brothers and sisters who have fallen,” he said.
During a ceremony outside the state Capitol, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Connecticut has lost 141 of its officers over the course of the state’s history.
“They may have come from different backgrounds or wore different uniforms, but what all these officers had in common was that they lived their lives with courage and dignity and brought honor to their departments and their families and to themselves,” he said.
The loss of those officers means that 141 Connecticut families were left grieving, Malloy said. The governor thanked Herington and welcomed him to the state.
While he was in the area, Herington said he was seeking to raise enough money to send New England families to a summer camp offering support and counseling to the kids and surviving spouses of law enforcement officers who have been killed.
“I committed to give $10,000. I looked at my team and said ‘Let’s get the rest’ and they did. As of two days ago we have raised a little bit over $50,000 to send every child in New England to that camp . . . we’re very proud of that,” he said.
Herington encouraged people looking to donate money to visit Ride4Cops.com. He said all the funds donated from New England will be put to use in the area.