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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs Police Officer Angela McGovern participated in the Police Unity Tour in memory of fallen State Trooper Tim Pratt.
Officer Tim Pratt tragically died as a result of a traffic accident in Wilton on October of 2016. He was struck by oncoming traffic while assisting a tractor-trailer that had stopped in the median and missed their exit. He was a trooper for 30 years and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1979 to 1986.
The event’s motto; “we ride for those who died” hit close to home for McGovern as she rode with a picture of Pratt on her bike from Philadelphia PA arriving in Washington D.C. on May 12.
“I don’t know him personally but because he was a local officer that passed, that’s who I wanted to honor,” McGovern said.
Police Unity Tour aims to raise awareness of Law Enforcement Officers who have died in the line of duty. It also helps to raise money for the National Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial and Museum. The names of fallen officers are listed in the Hall of Remembrance, named in honor of the Police Unity Tour. The Hall of Remembrance is the entry to the National Law Enforcement Officers Museum that is expected to open in the Fall.
For four days McGovern would begin her trek to Washington D.C. at 7 a.m. and ride until 5 p.m. with other law enforcement officers or survivors of the fallen officers by her side.
“I really had no experience as a cyclist,” McGovern said.
However, she has always attended Police Week, which is how she heard about the Police Unity Tour. She feels it’s a better way to honor fallen officers.
“I knew it would be a physical challenge, for me but I thought it would also be very enjoyable so I decided I would just go ahead and invest money and time, and the training and do it,” she said.
“I decided to do the ride first then I decided to do it for Tim,” she said.
Once she arrived in D.C. the ride was ended with all 2,500 cyclists riding through the memorial with an audience cheering them on.
“I kinda just went by myself and posted his picture underneath his name, I also put one of the Saratoga Springs Police patches on the wall, which is pretty cool,” McGovern said.
In May of 1997 the first Police Unity Tour started with 18 riders on a four day-fund- raising bicycle ride from Florham Park, NJ to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. Now in 2018, the organization has since grown to nine chapters and consists of nearly 2,500 participants. Just this past year the Police Unity Tour raised $2.6 Million.
