12th Annual "Run With the Cops" Proceeds Quietly; No Major Incidents Reported

WAUKESHA — The Waukesha Citizens Police Academy's 12th annual Run With the Cops 5K wrapped up Friday evening at Frame Park with what organizers described as clean logistics, minimal fanfare, and a finish line packed up 8 minutes ahead of the schedule posted on the academy's registration flyer.

Forty-seven participants completed the 3.1-mile loop along the Fox River, a field the academy's alumni association called consistent with recent years. Unlike the Waukesha Police Department's separately organized Run With The Cops fitness event at Veterans Park, Friday's race is run by academy graduates as a standalone fundraiser for citizen ride-along equipment, a distinction the registration table reportedly explained "at least a dozen times" to arriving runners.

Six uniformed officers ran the course as part of the academy contingent, finishing in an average time of 31 minutes, a pace an unnamed academy official called "respectable for a Friday."

Third Place, No Comment

The overall top three finishers included Dr. Morris Kell, 54, a dentist with a practice on Sunset Drive, who placed third with a time of 24 minutes 41 seconds. Kell, competing in his fourth Run With the Cops, said the course felt "a little short" this year but declined to speculate on whether the officers ahead of him in the standings had been holding back.

"I'm not going to sit here and say the police let anybody win," Kell said. "I'm also not going to sit here and say they didn't."

Asked directly whether he felt the department's contingent had eased off the pace to avoid outperforming civilian participants in front of witnesses, Kell paused for what a nearby volunteer estimated at four full seconds before saying only that he needed to get back to his car.

"Everybody crossed the line they were supposed to cross. That's really all I can tell you."

— Dr. Morris Kell, third-place finisher

Ahead Of Schedule

Academy volunteers attributed the early finish to a smaller field than the 61 participants registered in last year's race, along with a course adjustment that removed a planned second loop past the Fox River Star apartment site after construction fencing narrowed the path. The change was communicated to runners by megaphone roughly six minutes before the starting gun.

Post-race refreshments, provided by a Sendik's on Sunset Drive, ran out with 11 participants still on the course, a shortfall the academy's treasurer attributed to ordering off last year's headcount. Those runners were instead offered bottled water from a cooler intended for the water stop at mile two.

No injuries, disputes, or complaints were logged with race officials, a fact the academy's president called "honestly the most notable thing about the whole morning" before correcting himself to specify it had, in fact, been evening.

The academy said registration for its 13th annual Run With the Cops will open next spring, with early feedback already suggesting organizers restore the second river loop and, per one anonymous comment card, "maybe tell people ahead of time which cops are actually racing."