Cops Cycling for Survivors to stop in Jasper during statewide memorial ride

Jasper will sit on the route of a 1,000-mile memorial ride that does more than honor fallen officers. When Cops Cycling for Survivors rolls into town on July 14, the cyclists will bring with them the organization’s support truck, which carries memorial photos and serves as a moving tribute for the families left behind.

The stop is part of the group’s 25th annual ride, a 13-day tour across Indiana that begins July 6 in Indianapolis and ends July 18 at Crown Hill Cemetery. Jasper is scheduled as a stop between Terre Haute and Jeffersonville, putting Dubois County in the middle of a statewide remembrance effort that links communities across Indiana.

Cops Cycling for Survivors was founded in 2002 and has grown into a mission that reaches well beyond ceremonial mileage. The organization says its work supports scholarships, camps, line-of-duty death benefits and other survivor assistance, and riders include active and retired officers as well as civilian supporters. That practical backing gives the ride a second purpose beyond remembrance: it raises money for families who must keep moving forward after a death in the line of duty.

The memorial truck remains one of the ride’s most powerful symbols. Organizers say it travels the full route with the cyclists and carries photographs of fallen officers, giving surviving family members a place to pause, touch a picture and remember. For many families, the truck is treated as sacred ground, a rolling memorial that keeps names and faces in view long after the funeral has passed.

This year’s ride also includes newly added photos of Reserve Deputy Sheriff John C. Stahl III of Jefferson County and Corporal Blake Adair Reynolds of Delaware County. Their addition underscores how the memorial continues to expand as new officers are added to the state’s roll of honor.

Indiana Law Enforcement Memorial says the state has 533 known line-of-duty deaths across 195 agencies. Its older statistics page listed 455 known deaths as of March 6, 2019, showing how the list has continued to grow as more officers are remembered. The ride’s timing also carries national significance, since National Peace Officers Memorial Day is observed May 15, a date designated in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy.

For Jasper, the July stop offers a local way to take part in a statewide act of remembrance. It brings the names, photographs and families of Indiana’s fallen officers through Dubois County, and it turns a bicycle ride into a public reminder that the cost of service does not end when the headlines do.