Project Blue Light

December 04, 2007
Contact: Elise Schaffer, PIO Phone: (608) 284-6142 Email: schaffer@co.dane.wi.us

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office and COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors), are asking citizens and law enforcement agencies nationwide to support Project Blue Light this holiday season. During the holidays, citizens are asked to include at least one blue light in your holiday decorations, and/or tie a blue ribbon on your car antenna; in honor of law enforcement offers who have given their lives in the line of duty. The blue light also signifies support and thanks to those officers who continue to work the streets and jails 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Project Blue Light originated when Mrs. Dolly Craig, the surviving mother-in-law of Daniel Gleason, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officer killed in the line of duty in 1986, sent her Christmas message to the COPS National Office. Her daughter Pam, the surviving widow of Officer Gleason, had been killed in a car crash in August 1988. Dolly wrote, “This holiday I’m putting two blue lights in my living room window. One is for Dan and the other is for Pam, who believed so much in the COPS Organization.” Dolly Craig is now deceased as well, but her idea is her legacy. Project Blue light now burns bright in the hearts of nearly 10,000 surviving families who comprise COPS, a national non-profit organization that assists the surviving families of officers killed in the line of duty as they rebuild their shattered lives. The Dane County Sheriff’s Office will be remembering six members who died this passed year. They include retired Sheriff Jerome Lacke, Chief Deputy Stephan Nolan, Sergeant Mark Hamele, Deputy Dick Halfman, Deputy Steve Ninnemann, and K-9 Deputy Dino. ###