Peekskill Police Honor Guard Needs Assistance

[RWC130 594]

Peekskill Police Honor Guard Needs Assistance

The Peekskill Police Honor Guard was formed in May of 2014 when several officers participated in ceremonies in Albany, New York and Washington D.C. to recognize Detective Charlie Wassil, Detective Wassil had passed away due to health complications sustained during his work at the world trade center site immediately following the 9/11 attacks.

These officers have continued this detail and have attended several other events over the last year. The unit would like to raise money to buy new equipment and help offset the costs of attending events.

Thank you for your support.

GoFundMe Page: http://www.gofundme.com/PeekskillPolice

[Dinosaur 844]

Just asking because I don't understand the situation. Shouldn't the city and the PD be paying for this?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

In my experience with CT's Statewide Fire Honor Guard, I found that in many departments, the Honor Guards are formed by a group of POs, Firefighters, or EMTs who care about showing respect for their fallen Members, and who want to represent their agency at different events throughout the community. While many departments would like to be able to pay for the training and equipment that goes into running a Guard, its sometimes hard to do, especially considering the budget situations most of us are facing nowadays. I know my department didn't pay for my CT Honor Guard uniform or travel costs.

What happens a lot of the time is that a group of Members who care enough will get approval from the department and pay for things out-of-pocket to get things started, then they try to raise funds to keep things going. In other cases, the Honor Guard is supported by the Union instead of the department. When you look at the cost of sending members to Police Week in DC or NFFF Memorial Weekend in Emmitsburg, things really start to add up.

One thing I would recommend is T-Shirts, patches, and challenge coins. If someone can front the money, you can sell a lot of swag and raise the cash to offset some of your costs.

Edited February 27, 2015 by SageVigiles

[AFS1970 504]

I have talked with people who served on honor guards and I think they are better when run by individuals or unions simply because when they are department run, two things always seem to crop up. First is the department mandating who can and must be on the detail, as well as deciding to send the honor guard to places it really shouldn't go. Secondly these become funding nightmares, as someone will always want to know why tax money was spent to go on some trip, even an honor guard school.