DELAWARE

Hundreds defy weather for 'Back the Blue' event in Lewes

Doug Ferrar

The Daily Times

A Back the Blue Event was held at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry visitor lot, where the community could come and get a small thin blue line put on the back of their vehicle windows. The event was held as a tribute to state police Cpl. Stephen Ballard, who was shot and killed while on duty.

Rain and wind made for a miserable Thursday, but it didn't stop hundreds of drivers from making a side trip to the Cape May-Lewes Ferry terminal in Lewes to show their support for law enforcement officers.

They turned up for a "Back the Blue" event organized to honor fallen Delaware State Police Cpl. Stephen J. Ballard.

Ballard was fatally shot Wednesday, April 26 in a gas station parking lot near Bear when he approached a suspicious vehicle and the passenger jumped out and began firing at him. The shooter was killed by police 21 hours later after a standoff.

"It's basically everybody coming together to support a cause and having a good time," said 1st Sgt. Robert Quirk of the Maryland State Police, one of the organizers of the event. "(Ballard's death) was a tragic event, but I think it's good for the community as well as law enforcement for us all to work together."

The event opened at 10 a.m. as volunteers, off-duty police officers and family members laid out traffic lanes with orange traffic cones, allowing vehicles to queue up so that blue stripes could be applied to the rear windows of their vehicles. The stripes were free, but drivers were encouraged to make a donation of any size to the Delaware State Troopers Association's Stephen Ballard Memorial Fund.

"Back the Blue" is a national movement designed to allow people everywhere to show support for police officers. Numerous websites like backtheblue.us and doyoubacktheblue.org and Facebook pages have sprung up in recent months, selling merchandise like vinyl stickers and T-shirts with the "Back the Blue" logo.

Quirk and his friend Darren McCarnan organized a similar event last week in Bear. To call it successful is a bit of an understatement.

They raised almost $52,000 in one day, McCarnan said.

"We got the green light through the Delaware State Troopers' Association," Quirk said. "At first they didn't think it was going to be this big, and neither did we."

"We were thinking $5,000 to $10,000," McCarnan said. "And then it hit $15,000."

"Then $20,000, $25,000," Quirk added.

It only got more exciting from there, McCarnan said.

"We had a mile and a half backup just to get into the event last week," Quirk said. "Eventually, we had to just shut it off."

Working these events is a 10-hour day, Quirk said. The one in Bear used 300 to 400 rolls of waterproof vinyl 3M blue pinstripe tape, applied to 3,800 to 4,000 vehicles.

It was a lot of moving parts, resources and organization, Quirk said.

"Just getting all the tape together is a mission in itself," McCarnan said. "That's a lot of blue stripes."

By 3:30 p.m. in Lewes, the volunteers had hit their stride. Canopies were erected to shield cars from the rain while the stripes were applied — some of the canopies were donated, one by Sussex County EMS.

While a volunteer would rush in to clean and dry the window, one or two others would stretch out, measure and cut a length of tape, apply it evenly, trim it, and move on to the next vehicle.

There was a kind of science to it.

"As long as the window is prepped, it should stay pretty well," Quirk said. "It's a little dodgy today because the window's got to be pretty dry. We had an assembly line earlier but the rain pushed everyone underneath the tents."

The event had a good turnout despite the weather. McCarnan estimated that they had collected between $6,000 and $7,000 in donations before 4 p.m., and they had another four hours to go.

"When you see the look on the troopers' faces, the more cars that come, it just helps everybody," McCarnan said. "It helps the whole community heal."

Drivers chatted with volunteers during the moments it took to stripe their vehicles.

Nancy Thompson, who lives near Lewes, had no problem coming out in the rain.

"My son is a state trooper," she said. "So I'm very supportive of our state police. They're out there every day for us in every kind of weather."

Angie Warrington learned about the event on Facebook, but her husband is also a Delaware state trooper. She didn't mind the weather either.

"Not at all," she said. "I got off work and just came down. I'm happy to help support them."

Quirk is stationed at MSP Barrack R in Golden Ring, near Baltimore. McCarnan is a civilian who lives in North East, Maryland.

Still, they came to Delaware to raise support and awareness following Ballard's shooting.

"It's not too far to come down for a great cause," Quirk said.