The Old Bill… in New York

If you were strolling into Central Park at the Columbus Circle entrance last Saturday morning you might have been surprised to see a Metropolitan Police car parked under the USS Maine monument.

A hundred yards further in, you might have stopped short at the sight of three-score British police officers warming up for a light 14-mile jog round the southern loop. It was an extraordinary sight indeed, but one that has grown familiar to New Yorkers over the years.

Jack’s PACK is an offshoot of the British charity J-A-C-K (Joining Against Cancer in Kids), founded in 2008 to help raise funds for the treatment of Jack Brown, son of Met Police officers DI Yvonne Brown and DS Richard Brown, for neuroblastoma, a cancer that particularly affects children.

Every year since, the Met has flown over up to 80 police officers – Jack’s “PACK” (Police Against Cancer in Kids) – to take part in a series of fundraising challenges around New York, where Jack received treatment. Sadly, Jack died in 2009. The enduring legacy of the fight to provide him with the best possible treatment is that the PACK continue to raise funds in quite incredible amounts to help other children afflicted by neuroblastoma.

This year, they are entering into a joint venture with Solving Kids’ Cancer, a US-based charity, with the aim of improving access to clinical trials for children in North America and Europe.

This year was my second year working with Jack’s PACK on their New York visit, and it was an honour to run with them on Saturday. Although I didn’t look quite as smart as the rest of them in their police helmets and matching outfits, I was delighted to run alongside such a hard-working and enterprising bunch of people, many of whom had raised thousands of dollars over the years.

It was also excellent to see the close relationship the Met has developed with other forces in the UK – from Essex, Surrey, Suffolk and the British Transport Police – and police departments here in the US, principally of course the NYPD.

During their visit, a number of our bobbies have enjoyed “ride-alongs” with their New York counterparts to share best practices and see how things are done on the other side of the big water. Another highlight is the “plane-pull” contest between the Met team and the NYPD at the jetBlue hangar at JFK, won this year by the NYPD.

PC Mark Edwards, known to all as “Taff”, was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s 2012 Birthday Honours for his services to charity, having raised around half a million pounds for J-A-C-K since its inception. At a reception hosted by our Consul General, Danny Lopez, for the PACK on Monday night, I was inspired to see Taff planning next year’s fundraising efforts already.

It is a great thing that he and his colleagues do, and New York will always welcome them back.