By Mark Gregory
Editorial Director
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglemewspapers.com
A year ago, Bolingbrook police officers Steve Alexander and James Burke organized the inaugural squad car night at the Bolingbrook Promenade – a successful event in the community.
Just four months later, Alexander, 49, was killed along with his parents, Doug and Lily, and his brother, Doug Jr., in a car accident in Ireland.
On July 13, Burke and the Bolingbrook Police Department repeated the event – this time in memory of Alexander.
“We wanted to continue with it and now the second one is, unfortunately, in his memory,” Burke said. “He absolutely loved the first one and we wanted to continue it in his memory.
“I am a believer that everyone should be memorialized the way that they see fit. You never want someone to pass, but from as close as Romeoville and Plainfield and as far away as Elmhurst and Berkley.
“I have a couple friends who are on the Bolingbrook Police Department and they knew Steve really well and when they told me about this, I asked my department for permission to come down in memoriam to him. I didn’t really know what to expect or how big it was and it is awesome how many cars are here and how many cool things,” said Berkley Officer Jeff Parker. “It is a really cool night. As soon as I get back on Monday morning, I will ask permission to come back next year.”
Not only does the night offer kids and families a chance to meet officers and sit in squad cars, but in a day and age where there is so much for them to know that something that they loved and were so instrumental in getting started continues on.”
This year around 40 squad cars, rescue vehicles and command units lined the streets of the Promenade and at roughly 1,000 people came out to sit in the cars, try on tactical gear and talk to officers.
Departments came
hostility and negativity towards the police, it allows the community to see them in a different light – something Burke said is not one sided.
“The way I view it is important on both ends. This is as beneficial for the officers as it is for the community. As an officer, you are out there and you have your badge stickers or whatever you have to hand out and the kids are excited and the parents are happy and it is a nice recentering for the officers,” Burke said. “With all the people that are coming out thinking this is cool. It is a nice grounding experience for the officers seeing that more people like us than don’t. To me, the outreach goes both directions. The idea of community policing goes both ways.
Last year, there was a dad out there with his young kid and he had shorts on and you could see he had on an ankle bracelet – so he was on parole or probation. It was kind of neat that the father had obviously done something in his past, but he wasn’t antipolice and he saw it was an opportunity for his son to see something good.”
Aside from vehicles, the event also allowed children to get an ID card, there was a raffle to benefit the Bolingbrook police benevolent fund and a dunk-a-cop dunk tank that raised money for the Special Olympics.
There was also a tribute to Alexander and a ceremony that included a performance from the Bagpipes and Drums of the Emerald Society Chicago.