Last week, two Giordano’s pizzas showed up at the Oswego Police Department’s front door.
They came as a gift, and were accompanied by a short note: “We appreciate you! Our heroes!,” it said, decorated with a bubbly heart.
Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burgner said the gesture was a much-needed surprise.
“As of late, law enforcement has taken a beating in the national media,” the department wrote on its Facebook page as a way to thank the donors. “However, the citizens of Oswego have, as always, shown our department and our officers a lot of support. Your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you!”
Oswego resident Chris Burne is also feeling the love.
The Romeoville police sergeant was out to lunch in uniform on Thursday when he had something pretty special happen to him, he said.
During his meal at the Tasty Waffle restaurant on Weber Road, Burne was greeted by a man.
“He walked up to my table and said ‘I want to thank you for what you do,'” Burne recalled. “He said he didn’t want me to worry, and that there are those out there who support us.”
The kind words made Burne smile.
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A few more bites in, and the sergeant was approached again.
This time, a woman got out of her booth to let the officer know he was in her prayers.
“It meant a lot to hear,” Burne said.
At the end of his meal, he learned someone had paid for his lunch.
During his 15-year career as an officer, Burne said he has only had one citizen spontaneously buy his meal, and that was in his rookie days.
With the recent negativity surrounding law enforcement in the media, Burne said “thank you” is an important phrase to hear.
“These people lashing back against the police are the extreme minority,” Burne said. “Most of the public supports us, believes in us, and that’s very nice.”
But, the fact is, “there are people out there who just don’t like cops and they want to let us know that,” Burne said.
He recalled showing up at one home and being flipped-off by a 2-year-old boy.
“His dad said, ‘He hates cops. What can I say?,'” Burne said. “He was being raised to have a distorted view….What people forget about is that there’s true evil out there and we are the barrier between them and society. We have family. We have kids. We get up for work and hope to come home at the end of the day.
“There are people that target us for what we do, and it has nothing to do with who we are.”
For longtime Oswego resident Lettie Robinson, the negativity surrounding law enforcement has been difficult to see.
“There’s something very wrong going on right now and we have to outweigh it with all the right we can do,” she said. “Right now they need to be told thank you. The silent majority needs to stand up and protect our protectors.”
So, at her Oswego home, Robinson has found a way to do just that.
She replaced the home’s front light with a blue bulb, and is flying a blue, black and white flag to honor Burne and his brothers and sisters in blue.
“There are so many good stories out there, but you don’t ever hear about those,” Robinson said. “We need to stand up and say we’re not going to let this happen. I hope (kind things) continue to happen. We’ve got to turn this around.”
Gina Halder, of Yorkville, is on the same mission. Halder grew up as the daughter of a DuPage County Sheriff’s Department sergeant. It’s something she said that she’s taken pride in her entire life, which is why she’s so upset with what’s been happening over the course of the last year, she said.
“I think in the past year things have changed. It seems our police force is not getting respected. Everything feels so divided right now,” Halder said. “I feel like it’s really important to support our police community on a local level.”
Halder said the most recent tragedy in Fox Lake, which left a long-time veteran officer dead, struck especially close to home.
“Where he worked is an hour away from where my dad worked,” she said. “We didn’t lose an officer, the nation lost an officer.
“If we keep being positive and spreading the love, it will eventually conquer the violence and negative feelings against officers. They do so much for us,” she said. “They keep us safe, and we need to support them.”
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