By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – If police can put their lives on the line every day, a baker’s dozen motorcyclists can be away from home for a little more than two months.

End of Watch Ride to Remember is a project of some bikers from Washington State, some of them retired cops, to honor the 146 officers killed in the line of duty in 2019.

“We’re visiting 30 different states, 99 departments, representing all 146 officers by giving them the ride of their life,” said Jagrut Shah, who leads Beyond the Call of Duty, the group putting on the first of what could be an annual nationwide ride. “We are letting the departments know they are not alone in losing an officer (and we are) helping the families and letting them know that we have no forgotten their loved ones.”

The Springfield stop was at the State Police Memorial, with other Illinois locations McHenry and Fulton counties.

“The negativity of today, for this group to go out and do this across the United States,” said Jane McMillen of Pana, “is a positive that needs to be seen.”

McMillen’s son, Brian, was a state trooper killed in 2007 when his car was hit by two drunken drivers while on an emergency call. He was seven months into the job.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].