Improving your Department's Image

How Special Olympics Can Help - It's Not Just Any Charity

by Scott K. Sterland, Chief of Police, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin Police Department & Member, Wisconsin Law Enforcement Torch Run Committee

Before you disregard this article as another program you cannot afford to support. Let me start by saying this is a program you cannot afford to pass up.

Is the image of your department suffering, or are you concerned that one ill-timed event could cause it to suffer? Most all administrators in law enforcement are concerned with these issues. One way to ensure your department’s best image is to get involved in the community. This is nothing new. Police administrators have understood this for decades. But exactly what form the marketing of this image improvement takes can sometimes be a much more elusive target. 

We conduct bike rodeos, hand out candy on Halloween, and speak at the Rotary and Lion’s Club banquets and a myriad of other positive community events. These are all worthwhile, noble tasks. What do all these things have in common? They increase communication and improve department image. What they do not do is contribute to any one group in a substantive manner; the Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) for Special Olympics fills that void.

Not only does participation in the LETR assist your department by improving its image with the public at large, but also the department’s involvement positively impacts the lives of the athletes who so desperately need it.  Oftentimes, individuals with intellectual disabilities also have physical challenges that need to be overcome. Through the regular training and exercise these athletes receive, comes health and longevity that was a distant wish only three-plus decades ago. In 1963, Eunice Kennedy-Shriver started Special Olympics and in 1968 the first international Special Olympics games was held. Now, in conjunction with these events is the “Healthy Athletes Initiative.” This initiative gives free screening for dental, hearing, and footwear issues for the athletes as well as optical check ups sponsored through Lion’s Club International.

Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR)

The LETR to benefit Special Olympics is the single highest grossing grass roots fundraiser and public awareness vehicle for Special Olympics in the world. Begun in 1981 by Chief Richard LaMunyon and his officers in Wichita, Kansas who got together and ran across town to raise some money for the local Special Olympics athletes, the Torch Run and all its related events has grown to unbelievable proportions. The funds raised through the LETR allow Special Olympics to offer year-round competition in dozens of sports that focus on training and competition. Some of the sports, like Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, Volleyball, Powerlifting, Snowboarding, and Gymnastics are more traditional and recognizable to those familiar with the traditional Olympic Games held every other year. However, Special Olympics also holds training and competition in sports such as bowling, badminton, bocce, and golf. In doing this, individuals of differing skill levels can compete in sports more suited to their abilities.  

Another element of Special Olympics competition is Unified Sports®. These are sports competitions that pair athletes with intellectual disabilities with athletes who possess no impairment. These athletes train and compete together in their selected sports.

In the 2005 fiscal year, the LETR raised over $21 million for this movement. In addition, it is common for 75-80% of all proceeds for these events to go directly to the athletes with intellectual disabilities. This, in turn, pays for uniforms, travel, registration fees, and other monies necessary for participation in Special Olympics whose events and training occur all year around.

Torch Run events include organized runs, golf tournaments, polar plunges, roof-top sits, bowling, shooting competitions, and calf roping events just to name a few. All the proceeds from these events go to raise money and awareness for Special Olympics and at the same time increases your department’s community image.

Getting involved in the LETR for Special Olympics is so easy that it could be said, if you are not involved in the LETR it is because you choose not to be involved. Administering a police department takes a great deal of work and can be very time consuming. If your schedule is such that you cannot find the time to attend LETR fundraising events; assign/send a subordinate in your place. Assign a department member with the task of including your police department in Torch Run activities. Send a couple officers or deputies from your department to a state, national, or international conference. They will come back energized and with a wealth of information and ideas of how to include your department in Torch Run activities and simultaneously increase your department’s public image. The few hundred dollars it might cost your department to send two employees to a conference will pale in comparison to the positive image you will garner due to your involvement in the program.

How to Get Involved

First and foremost, locate your regional LETR contact. Click here for a list of regional contacts. There are regional contacts all around the world including South America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean Nations. These individuals are an unlimited wealth of information. Once you speak to these contacts, they will be able to give you specific information as to who to contact in your local community to assist the Special Olympics Athletes.

I challenge every police administrator reading this article to become involved in Special Olympics. These athletes need our help. This is your chance to give back to a segment of the community that truly appreciates your effort.