Rockville Centre police participate in Special Olympic Torch Run

Officers with the Rockville Centre Police Department represented their community as well as the region during the Law Enforcement Torch Run. The event was a mile-long run that was aimed at raising awareness for the Special Olympics, the sports organization that runs various global competitions for those with intellectual disabilities.

Police Officer Michael Rollo, P.O. Tom Szenczy, P.O. Brian Vacchio, and P.O. Nordwing Veszter joined several other officers and departments on the run who successfully helped raise money and greater awareness in their communities.

The officers from Rockville Centre were first notified about the run by an email from Lieutenant Sal Mazza. The Torch Run they participated in began at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Sunrise Highway and ran through a good portion of the department’s jurisdiction. This section of Sunrise Highway was closed off for the morning run and gave the participants plenty of time and space to complete the run while carrying American flags and flags for each department.

Vacchio shared that he has seen the necessity for events and organizations like the Torch Run and the Special Olympics and how important it is to advocate for those with neurological and intellectual disabilities in his personal life.

His mother is a special education teacher who deals with children dealing with various learning and intellectual disabilities. Due to circumstances beyond the control of the children, they require special attention, care and patience to go through many of the trials in education and life that many take for granted.

He has been able to help his mother and other special education professionals by volunteering his time at summer camps that had autistic children. Being able to learn firsthand how meaningful care and additional resources are to those dealing with these physiological setbacks, Vacchio and his fellow officers did not hesitate at an opportunity to provide more support.

Vacchio explained, “We all agreed that [the Torch Run] was a great cause that we all wanted to be a part of, and it was important to have someone from our department representing.”

Law enforcement officers across the United States have been raising awareness and funds for the Special Olympics since the 1960s, with a program in New York State being founded in 1969.

The “Flame of Hope” is held within the symbolic torch that has been carried by thousands of officers from local departments all over New York State and the wider country several times a year. The flame is meant to symbolize “courage and celebration of diversity uniting communities around the globe.”

The Special Olympics World Games were held in June 2023 in Berlin, Germany that had thousands of athletes participate in the games. The Special Olympics World Winter Games are scheduled to be held in Turin, Italy in March 2025, with hopefully a similar turnout to the previous summer games after the 2023 winter games were cancelled due in part to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.