Because of the demanding nature of their work, our tactical team officers must stay in peak physical condition. They spend many hours a week undergoing physical training, but they engaged in a pretty novel way of working out last Thursday: spreading mulch.
I hope you’ve had the chance to visit the Trail of Heroes on the campus of the Kansas City Regional Police Academy. It’s a 1.5-mile mulch trail that runs through woods, by a pond and other beautiful scenery near 6885 N.E. Pleasant Valley Road. Benches along the trail commemorate fallen officers, and it’s open for everyone to come use. Unfortunately, significant rains in the last few months had caused bad erosion on the trail, and more mulch was needed to keep the walking path accessible. That’s where our tactical teams came in. They used their normal physical training time to help spread 300 cubic yards of mulch – enough to fill three 18-wheelers’ trailers. Working with Capital Improvements officers who designed the trail, the tac teams spread all this mulch in eight hours. They even added another leg to the trail that runs by a second pond. Everyone agreed it was a pretty good workout.
The tac teams weren’t the only ones working on the trail in the past few days. Two Boy Scouts are doing their Eagle Scout projects there – one is setting up a picnic area, and another is building a memorial to officers who died in the 1933 Union Station Massacre. Another group of Scouts will be camping along the trail soon.
The Trail of Heroes is now in tip-top shape and ready for you and your family to stop by and take advantage of.
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