Officers begin COPS trek across state

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Police officers from all corners of the state started pedaling south Monday morning. They started the annual C.O.P.S. ride at a fitting location: the Police and Firefighters Memorial in Downtown Indianapolis.

C.O.P.S. stands for Concerns of Police Survivors. The ride is a way to honor officers who've died in the line of duty and bring attention to the difficulties facing the families they leave behind.

Each year, state troopers, sheriff's deputies and police officers from several Indiana communities park their patrol cars for a week or so and use pedal power to circle the state.

The ride has long gotten a fair amount of attention, but since 2006 it has had even deeper significance. That year, two of the cyclists died in a horrifying wreck during the ride.

Each year, the route varies with the goal of visiting places where fallen officers lived, worked or died.

This year's tour started with a stretch straight south on Meridian. The first leg ends Monday night in Bloomington.

From there, the cyclists will head toward southern Indiana for stops in Madison, Jeffersonville and Huntingburg.

The tour goes up the west side of the state through Vincennes, Clinton and Kentland.

Northern Indiana stops include Merrilville, Mishawaka, Warsaw and Fort Wayne.

Marion and Richmond get stops in the final days of the ride.

Then, the riders return to Indianapolis August 7 for ceremonies at Crown Hill in Indianapolis.