The Kalamazoo Gazette
PORTAGE, Mich. — Michigan police officers will again team up to host the annual Kazoo Area Foot Chase Saturday in and around Portage’s Millennium Park on Romence Road.
The zany, 3.5-mile run is patterned as a police foot chase in pursuit of fleeing suspects. The run, which is open to the public, begins with a staged incident near the starting line from which “suspects” flee and then disappear.
Moments later, the runners are released to search for and chase the suspects if they spot them. To find their way around the course, runners must also look for “witnesses” who are positioned at strategic locations to point the runners where to head next.
The course is unconventional, as it often includes alleys, fields, hills, parking lots and sometimes even buildings to run through just as a real chase might. And if a runner captures a suspect’s blue bandana or recovers “contraband” left along the course, he or she can redeem such items for prizes at the end.
The fastest runners in each age and gender category also will receive prizes.
In addition to the run, the event includes public-safety exhibits and demonstrations. This year, representatives from Michigan Taser will give live Taser demonstrations.
Also expected are classic police cars, a police K-9 demonstration and the Portage Fire Department to demonstrate examples of some of its firefighting equipment and techniques.
The Foot Chase annually honors a fallen Michigan police officer with the presentation of a memorial plaque to a representative from the officer’s department. This year Officer Owen Fisher of the Flint Police Department, who was killed during a police pursuit in 2005, will be honored and remembered.
The Kazoo Area Foot Chase is held as a benefit for Michigan Concerns of Police Survivors (mi-cops.org). MI-COPS is a nonprofit organization that provides support for the survivors of Michigan’s law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
MI-COPS does not charge for its services but does accept donations.
In the past year, West Michigan has lost three police officers in the line of duty. Dave Ostrem, a colleague of 21-year-old Mattawan Officer Scot Beyerstedt, who was killed in 2005 in a crash during a police pursuit, is also the co-founder of the Kazoo Foot Chase event.
“In our case, MI-COPS was there by our sides from the beginning, helping Scot’s family and fellow officers come to grips with the loss that they had just experienced,” Ostrem said. “They were there with us then, and they remain there for us now if we need them.
“MI-COPS is an outstanding organization, and the support that they provided to us during our time of crisis was priceless.”
Other co-founding members of the event — Holly Cerny and Jim Campbell — said the Foot Chase gives the public a chance to experience police action without the dangers that a real chase can hold.
“In this event, our participants are looking for suspects who are people acting as bad people, not real criminals,” Cerny said.
Campbell said, “Unlike in real police chases, our suspects are only carrying toy weapons, and in real life, pursuing officers sometimes have to cross busy streets without someone controlling traffic for them, which is something we take care of at points around our course for the safety of our participants.”
For those interested in participating, registration forms for the run can be found at the Web site www.kazoofootchase.com. They will also be available at the event Saturday morning.
Copyright 2007 Kalamazoo Gazette