Berkley Public Safety Volunteers Work to Form Honor Guard

A group of Berkley Public Safety Department employees is working to launch an all-volunteer Honor Guard unit to represent the city.

BPS Officer Brian Laity, who has spearheaded the effort, said the Honor Guard will pay respects to fallen officers throughout the region and team up with the American Legion to conduct memorials for Armed Forces members.

"I thought: This is something we need to bring to Berkley," Laity said of seeing Honor Guards each year during National Police Week in Washington, D.C.

Laity also has a more personal motivation.

"When I started 5 years ago, about 8 months in, Oak Park lost Officer Mason Samborski," said Laity, who served as an usher at his colleague's funeral.

The experience moved him and helped inspire the push to form an Honor Guard in Berkley, he said.

However, there is a reason smaller communities such as Berkley often don't have an Honor Guard: The cost of training and ceremonial uniforms can be prohibitive, Laity said.

So, the following BPS employees have agreed to not only donate their time to serve in the unit, but also to help raise the funds for it.

• Officer Brian Laity
• Officer Dennis Geary
• Officer Jordan Kobernick
• Sgt. Andrew Hadfield
• Sgt. Corey Miller

The men accepted $20 donations for Honor Guard T-shirts during the annual Lids for Kids event June 8 and plan to host a spaghetti dinner fundraiser July 27 at American Legion Post 374 in Berkley.

"This is a great thing they're doing, not just for Berkley but for everybody," Berkley City Councilman Alan Kideckel said.

If you go

• What: Berkley Honor Guard spaghetti dinner fundraiser.
• When: 4-8 p.m. July 27.
• Where: American Legion Post 374.
• Cost: $10 adults; $5 seniors and kids; children 2 and younger get in free.
• What else: E-mail blaity@berkleymich.net or call the Berkley Public Safety Department at 248-658-3380 to purchase tickets.