Hoover police debut pink badges for breast cancer awareness

Hoover police are showing their support for breast cancer awareness throughout the month of October.

“As you can see, the Hoover blue has added pink to our uniform for the month of October, breast cancer awareness month,” said Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis during a press conference outside of the Police Operations Center on Lorna Road.

Throughout the month of October, Hoover police will wear pink badges, and Hoover police vehicles will bear a pink decal in honor of breast cancer awareness.

“This is an initiative that we’re certainly excited about. Chief [Nick Derzis] came to us with this idea a few weeks ago as a way to raise awareness for National Breast Cancer Awareness month,” said Capt. Gregg Rector.

The pink badges and window decals are a way to not only show support for the cause, but to also raise awareness, Derzis said.

“We know that breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women,” he said. “We know that one out of every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. We know that everyone here today, directly or indirectly, has been affected by some form of cancer. We hope that by wearing pink, we can start a conversation. A conversation has to be about awareness. Awareness is the issue.”

Libba Hardwick, a representative of the American Cancer Society, was present at the badge reveal. Because “everybody knows pink” and what the color stands for, wearing these badges can help spread necessary information, Hardwick said.

“It’s great to raise funds, but to raise awareness is even more important,” she said. “People will go get mammograms and encourage others to do the same.”

Derzis thanked Frank Barefield, chairman of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama and owner of Abbey Residential, as well as Chip Welch, secretary for Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama and owner of Industrial Chemicals, for their support of the initiative.

“Obviously we just couldn’t go out with public funds and start buying these badges and decals,” Derzis said, “and [we] certainly appreciate Frank and Chip stepping up to the plate and saying they would donate the funds to be able to do it.”

Barefield’s donation helped the department purchase the badges for officers, and Welch’s donation helped purchase the decals.

Anyone hoping to donate during the month of October can do so through the American Cancer Society’s Real Men Wear Pink campaign, during which 25 Birmingham-area men will wear pink every day throughout October, Hardwick said. Each man must raise at least $2,500, and the man who raises the most by the end of the month is declared the Real man of the Year for 2016.