Despite snow blowing in their faces, Sandra, Alexis and Sammy Martinez walked the streets around Oakbrook Center Sunday afternoon.
They walked down Route 83 and 22nd Street hoping a DuPage County sheriff’s deputy — Samuel Martinez, their spouse and father, whose beat includes the mall — would be able to stop by. However, job responsibilities kept him away.
But the Martinez family still marched in support of Samuel and other law enforcement personnel.
“He is working a 12-hour shift today,” Sandra Martinez said. “We wanted to show our support for him. He puts his life on the line every day.”
Dozens of people showed up at the mall Sunday afternoon to show their support for law-enforcement personnel, many carrying signs thanking them for their dedication and service.
The march was organized by Teri King, a Berwyn resident, who said she has grown tired of all the negative publicity surrounding police overall after the Ferguson, Mo. and New York City decisions to not bring charges against white officers in the deaths of black citizens.
Motorcycle riders made a strong showing at the event, but King wished more people would have attended.
She said the cold, wintery weather definitely kept people from attending, but added that weather never holds bikers back. King noted bikers came from as far away as Woodstock and Rockford to be at Sunday’s march.
“The biker community always comes out to (events like) this. It is just a given – always,” King said. “I wish there were thousands more, but we’ll do it again in May.”
King is looking to make May’s march in support of law enforcement a national event with walks in cities and towns throughout the United States. She hopes to be able to have a May march at Oak Brook Center again, noting the mall as well as the Oak Brook and Oakbrook Terrace police, were extremely helpful in providing needed services for the event.
King wants May’s event to be a country-wide boost for law-enforcement personnel.
“Every city, every town, everybody can walk a mile in support of the police,” King said. “They need some love right now.”
Nicole DeMario, a local police officer, said the love shown Sunday was definitely appreciated.
“It felt great,” DeMario said, asking that the department she works for not be mentioned as she was not representing the agency at the event. “It was really nice to see the support for law enforcement.”
Pat Behles made it down from Algonquin for the event. She said it is important to show support for police officers in these times when they are being criticized on so many fronts.
She advised people who have not already done so to take a citizens police academy class.
“It gives you a taste of what the police deal with on a daily basis,” Behles said.
Chicago resident Kristin Cronin has seven members of her family in emergency services, either with police or fire departments or in critical care nursing. She felt it was only right to show up.
“My whole family is in emergency services. We were taught to show respect for the positions,” Cronin, a critical care nurse, said. “That is why I am here, to show respect.”
Sue Hall, the wife of a Cook County sheriff’ deputy, bristled at talk that weather kept people away.
“That’s no excuse,” Hall said. “When people call 911, the police can’t say they are not coming out because of the weather.”
Hall’s 8-year-old has made it a tradition to provide food for police officers and firefighters on Sept. 11.
“He learned about 9/11 in preschool and when my husband came home that day, he said, ‘I didn’t know you were a first responder, Daddy.’ He came up with the idea of feeding them and has been doing it now for four years.”
Susan Fiene has been a multi-jurisdictional police dispatcher for 19 years. She said police do not get the credit they deserve.
“Not to take anything away from the fire departments, but everybody loves firefighters. Police don’t get that same reaction,” said Fiene, who has gotten her share of unflattering calls in dispatch centers.
The organizer of the DuPage Emergency Dispatchers Association, Fiene said by going on ride-alongs with officers she was able to get a better sense of their issues.
“By being with them, I could understand them getting mad about a delay in (dispatchers) checking a name for them when they have a car full of gang bangers,” Fiene said.