On Nov. 2, Winthrop resident, Officer Judy Racow will be honored for her bravery, by The Horses and Heroes Foundation. The non-profit organization, based in Revere, focuses on naming horses after officers from Massachusetts who are recipients of the Trooper Hanna Award. Named after George L. Hanna who lost his life during a motor vehicle stop on Feb. 26, 1983, this annual award applauds other officers who have displayed acts of bravery during their career.
Racow received the Trooper Hanna Award, for her work as an undercover officer on Nov. 8, 1995, when she was responding to a routine drug investigation while working undercover.
“I was faced with a scary situation, the one where every officer battles with the question of whether or not they will be going home that night,†said Racow, who was presented with the Hanna Award on June 25, 1996. “You’re scared and emotionally upset but then you do it all over again. It was a bad situation. I went home that night, and the bad guy went to jail. It’s an honor to receive this dedication in the name of all law enforcement officers, not only for the town of Winthrop, but as a whole nationwide for the work we do.â€
Racow will be honored at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 Metcalf Square in Winthrop.
She is one the only officer from Winthrop and one of only 19 women to be the recipient of the Trooper Hana Award for bravery. A horse will be named in her honor before it is sent to Washington, D.C.
The Horses (and) Heroes Foundation was established to partner donated police horses named in honor of those men and women that protect and serve, with mounted patrol units throughout the United States.