Local officers go the distance for Special Olympics

By Lori Hein

Fri Jun 08, 2007, 01:03 AM EDT

Easton -

It’s so special, they got a parade permit from the City of Boston. On the evening of June 15, several hundred police officers, accompanied by cruisers and motorcycles, will run down Commonwealth Avenue from BC to BU, bearing the torch that will light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Massachusetts Special Olympics Summer Games. This is the Final Leg, the last of four relays totaling over 84 miles that together comprise this year’s Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) to benefit Special Olympics Massachusetts (SOMA).

About 20 Easton swimmers will be among the 2,200 SOMA athletes waiting at BU for the torch’s arrival, and at least five Easton police officers will be among the group of runners bearing the Flame of Hope.

Officer Adam Kwan will be there, along with fellow officers Robert Tuohy, Steven Hamilton, Michael Golden and Christopher Aker. Kwan, who’s spearheading the Easton effort, hopes to recruit more of his colleagues.

Started by a Kansas police chief in 1981 to raise funds for and increase awareness of Special Olympics, which provides athletic opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities, the Torch Run now has editions in all 50 states and in 40 countries.

Endorsed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the LETR is a series of relays that kick off local, regional, state and national Special Olympics Summer Games. In 2006, over 85,000 law enforcement officers participated, and they raised, through t-shirt sales, donations, sponsorships and special events, more than $25 million for Special Olympics programs worldwide. Money raised by each group of officers stays with the Special Olympics chapters in the communities where those officers live and work.

Officer Kwan, a 25-year veteran of the Easton police force and known by many as the town’s bike patrolman, has been a runner since he left the Marine Corps in 1972. He runs four to six miles every other day. He’s run in and helped carry the torch in “about ten” LETRs, including a marathon-length leg from Brockton to Boston in 2003. His total on-foot contribution to that leg was about 12 miles. “We were supported by a bus,” said Kwan. “You could run, then get on the bus and rest and hydrate, then go back out.”

Kwan’s looking forward to running this year’s Final Leg with hundreds of fellow officers from around the state, many of whom will have also run one of the event’s other three legs. “It’s not a race,” he said. “We’re all running together, in unison. It’s a show of numbers.”

Two days of competition will follow the Games’ June 15 opening ceremony. Easton’s Special Olympics athletes will compete in aquatics at Harvard’s Blodget Pool. For months, they’ve been training on Wednesday evenings, under coach Jim Church and other volunteers, in the Frothingham YMCA pool. If they medal at the Games, Kwan might be the one to hand them their hardware – he’s going to help distribute medals to winning athletes. Kwan handed out medals at recent regional games in Attleboro and said of the experience, “I love that.”

SOMA has launched an effort to strengthen the LETR and related law enforcement and community-supported activities in Massachusetts. SOMA communications director Olivia DiFeterici told of “exciting new developments” around the state – fundraising events initiated by local police departments, the creation of additional relay legs in several towns and counties – that “will give us tremendous momentum as we continue to grow the Torch Run throughout the state.”

Mansfield, which sent about 60 athletes to the regional games in Attleboro, is poised to become a locus of Special Olympics activity. DiFeterici said SOMA is working with Mansfield’s school system and special education department to create a soccer team for athletes with intellectual disabilities and that teachers would like to eventually hold multisport games at the town’s track and field facilities.

Mansfield police support Special Olympics in a number of ways. Department members participated in a cruiser parade at the Attleboro games and gave out athlete medals. And, according to Officer Paul Whitty, who’s run the LETR in the past, Sergeant Lawrence Crosman would like to organize a road race in Mansfield to benefit Special Olympics.

When law enforcement departments and civic leaders get involved with Special Olympics, everyone wins. Intellectually disabled individuals learn new skills and break through old limits. Supporters earn what Easton’s Adam Kwan described as “gratification.” Said Kwan, “For me, it’s a chance to give back to the community.”

Lori Hein can be reached at lorihein.com

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