Former Highland Park cop returns from Ohio to help after parade shooting
Former Highland Park officer returns from Ohio to help
The Highland Park police chief interrupted a meeting of officers to bring in a familiar face, who was greeted with hugs and cheers. That warm welcome was for Nate Maring, a former co-worker answering the call to help.
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. - Inside the Highland Park Police Department, a welcome surprise arrived this weekend.
The police chief interrupted a meeting of officers to bring in a familiar face, who was greeted with hugs and cheers. That warm welcome was for Nate Maring, a former co-worker answering the call to help.
"It was Highland Park calling and asking me to come back and, yes, and the answer will always be yes for these guys," said Officer Maring, describing a phone call he received last week.
Maring will work in Highland Park for two weeks, while wearing the uniform of his current police department, in West Chester, Ohio, thanks to a mutual aid agreement. He moved from Highland Park to the job in Ohio last fall, due to family reasons.
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"It just meant a lot that I could just be here to support them. Give these guys a day off. I know they've been working nonstop," said Maring.
Since July 4th, Highland Park police mostly have been working 18-hours shifts with no days off to deal with the trauma and grief of the massacre. So just one extra person has quite an impact for Chief Lou Jogmen.
"He's one guy, but he's a special guy. And just when he walked through the door and to see the officers and their faces light up. I can get an officer just one day off to go home and be with the family and decompress and process. I mean, it really is priceless," said Chief Jogmen.
The suburban police department has just 56 officers, so officers in the north suburb haven’t been able to take a break, unlike in other big cities who’ve had mass shootings.
"They can pull people from other areas of their city to staff and get their officers offline. And honestly, we weren't able to do that. We had officers that work till two in the morning on the Fourth and they got back in the squad car at six in the morning and started patrolling and have been," said Chief Jogmen.
So now an officer in an Ohio uniform is back in a Highland Park cruiser, patrolling streets he knows for people he cherishes.
"To say that they're my family is the only way to describe it. And so, it's just good to be back and help them," said Maring.
Because the officers in Highland Park still have to protect and serve, even while they hurt and try to heal.