This year's Madison Police Department-west district appreciation event / open house was even bigger & better than the one we held last year. We had even more food and more community supporters in attendance. To give you an idea, I bought 200 plates (compostable, of course) and towards the end of the event we ran out - people had to eat off napkins. The food was almost all devoured, but we managed to save some leftovers for officers and staff who were unable to attend. Several officers and community members arrived a little before closing, at the time we were cleaning up. I feel terribly that you didn't get to enjoy the entire spread. Next year we need to lengthen the hours. : ) Thank you to all of you who took the time to show up and thank the officers. It really meant a lot! And I loved meeting all of you. Here are some photos from the event . . . Photos by Norm Sammes: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B4TJozgYTTRbUXk0V1FTNDExSUk Photos by Duane & Wendy Reichel: https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-TvCx22/ And David Blaska's blog covering the event. (Thanks, David for including my speech.): https://davidblaska.com/2017/05/17/madison-residents-appreciate-their-police/ Thank you to NBC-15 for interviewing me twice this year about the event. I was in incredible spirits when I arrived home, only to turn on the TV and see the Common Council again discussing how to police the police. Then this: "Democratic bills would set statewide police use of force policies in Wisconsin" (we are a non-partisan group). http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/election-matters/democratic-bills-would-set-statewide-police-use-of-force-policies/article_b674c58a-8544-59c6-bd81-eb8854afe640.html What these groups don't seem to understand (or perhaps they do) is that Madison Police Department already meets & exceeds these recommendations. Another discussion for another post. But it does show that the fight isn't over. Madison PD needs our support more than ever. One more thing you can do to show local law enforcement support for National Police Week (ending on Saturday) is to send them personalized cards and letters. I know they would just love it. Even if they arrived after Saturday, that's ok. : ) Here are the addresses for the districts . . . Central district: 211 S. Carroll St. Madison, WI 53703 East district: 809 S. Thompson Dr Madison, WI 53716 North district: 2033 Londonderry Drive Madison, WI 53704 South district: 825 Hughes Place Madison, WI 53713 West district: 1710 McKenna Blvd. Madison, WI 53711 All the best. : ) --Paula Fitzsimmons