Full disclosure: just like everything else with this charity, all that you see is done by police officers; active or retired. ALL of it is volunteer. None of us are ‘writers’. It’s that lack of formal training or polish that has generated authenticity and pure emotion. Today’s rant will be more of the same. Our thoughts tend to ramble sometimes and they don’t always compress properly, but you can trust and believe that what you […]
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BBO ‘Assembles for Amy’ – 2019 NYC Tunnel to Towers
For the second year in a row, Brothers Before Others entered a team in the NYC Tunnel to Towers 5k that topped 150+ members. This year our team ran as ‘Team Caprio’, running in honor of Baltimore County Police Officer Amy Sorrells Caprio who was killed in the line of duty in May of 2018. Our team was honored to play host to several members of Amy’s family, including her parents, husband, sister, best friend. coworkers and her […]
Continue readingA Tale of Two Cities: BBO Honors Asbury Park Police Detective April Bird and Detroit Police Sergeant Kenneth Steil
Brothers Before Others Founder and President Michael Burke pondered over his drink, “Ya know. Once you tell someone, ‘I’ll never forget’, you have to remember that never means FOREVER.” The look on Michael’s face was one of determined exhaustion. As a charity founded on the goal of sending a floral arrangement to every line of duty death in the country, a task that we’ve flawlessly accomplished since 2014, it’s tragically hard to keep up with […]
Continue reading‘Night to Unite IV’ – The Brotherhood and Benevolence Ball
‘Night to Unite’. A seemingly simple statement that holds a much deeper meaning to those who wear a shield. There is no denying that the law enforcement community is under attack from all angles these days. Discrediting and disrespecting a police officer is more commonplace and accepted these days than shaking one’s hand. Since the first installment of these gatherings, BBO’s Founder and President Michael Burke had a basic blue print. The goal was to […]
Continue readingThe Importance of 9/11 Remembrance for the Next Generation
Time is relentless. This year will mark the 18th anniversary of the day our world changed forever. In a few short years, the entirety of high school students will be taught about 9/11 as something they weren’t alive for. There are endless accounts of loss, survival, bravery and outright heroism through the eyes of those who lived that day first person. I sit here and write this as someone who wasn’t a police officer then. […]
Continue readingSometimes There Just Aren’t Enough Rocks…
There’s a scene from the Tom Hanks movie, “Forrest Gump”, where Forrest watches Jenny throw rocks at an abandoned house that represents a painful memory from her past. In a moment of seemingly simple minded analysis, Forrest realizes that no amount of thrown rocks will ever undo the hurt that has been done. This past weekend, Brothers Before Others hosted a memorial dedication in honor of 5 year old Delaney Gaddis and her grandmother, Deborah […]
Continue readingThe Arrival of ‘Ad Mortem’
‘Fidelis ad mortem‘. Faithful unto death. This is the motto of the New York City Police Department. If you’ve been a cop long enough in anywhere USA, there’s a good chance you’ve heard someone joke at some point about the job being ‘dead’, usually in response to poor leadership, an unpopular management decision and almost always accompanied by an eye-roll. After today’s decision made by the NYPD’s gutless Commissioner James O’Neill to bow to political pressure […]
Continue readingRemembering Our Sister – Asbury Park Police Detective April Bird
Tomorrow, at the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, New Jersey, law enforcement members and Brothers Before Others members from all over the country, will be gathering to join friends and family in mourning the loss of Asbury Park Police Detective, April Bird. Greg Holden sings an apropos song titled “Hold On Tight”. In it, he says: “I’ll try not to complain about the things I have lost. Because, when you have something great that just means there’s a greater loss..” And so it […]
Continue readingHappy 5th Anniversary Brothers Before Others!
Regardless of your age, sex, race, religion or even chosen profession, there is very likely a support group dedicated to the care and specific concerns of whatever you’re looking for; and so it goes for Brothers Before Others. Started in 2014 by retired NYPD Police Officer Michael Burke, BBO was intended to serve as a National Flower Fund, ensuring that every line of duty death, no matter where they happened in the country, was honored […]
Continue readingLeadership 101: Rank Without Respect is Hollow
Whether you are a baseball fan or not, there’s a good chance you heard whisperings about the epic meltdown that New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone unleashed last week. In defense of what Aaron deemed a wide strike zone resulting in some bad calls against HIS guys, he let loose an expletive filled tirade famously referring to his players as “savages in that box” (referring to the batters box). Again, we caution you, instruct the […]
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