What is LETR?

The Law Enforcement Torch Run Campaign for Special Olympics is the movement’s largest grass-roots fundraiser and public awareness vehicle. The LETR Campaign has raised more than $38 million for Special Olympics Programs around the world. More than 85,000 law enforcement personnel carried the "Flame of Hope" across 35 nations.

The Law Enforcement Torch Run began in 1981 when Police Chief Richard LaMunyon, of Wichita, Kansas saw an urgent need to raise awareness of and funds for Special Olympics. Police Chief LaMunyon realized the importance of Special Olympics in the lives of Special Olympics athletes and conceived the idea to have law enforcement personnel obtain pledges from their family, friends and co-workers for a Torch Run, known as the "Flame of Hope."

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP’s) lent its support to this growing movement. With the IACP’s enthusiastic support and leadership, it now includes not only law enforcement officers, but all levels and branches of the law enforcement community.

At the most basic level, the LETR Campaign is an actual running event in which law enforcement and athletes run the “Flame of Hope” to the Opening Ceremonies of local Special Olympics competitions, State Games, and National Summer or Winter Games. As part of the Opening Ceremonies, a law enforcement participant passes the Torch to a Special Olympics athlete to light the flame that signals the opening of the Games.

At its most developed, the LETR Campaign initiative encompasses a variety of fundraising vehicles in addition the Torch Run itself, such as merchandise sales, donations/pledges, corporate donations and special events that have local appeal.

In addition, every two years, law enforcement officers from around the world gather to carry the "Flame of Hope" in a Law Enforcement Torch Run Final Leg in honor of the Special Olympics World Summer or World Winter Games. The Final Leg is not only a salute to the athletes who compete in the World Games, but also honor for the participating law enforcement officers who make up the Torch Run Final Leg Team.

The Final Leg starts when, in the ancient Olympic tradition, the flame for the Special Olympics World Games is ignited by the rays of the sun opposite the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. This symbolic flame, protected in miner’s lamps, travels to the site of the World Games, where law enforcement officers, representing their state, province or nation, act as "Guardians of the Flame" and carry the “Flame of Hope” to the Opening Ceremonies of the Games.