Sandy Springs Police Officer Janssen Redcay is about to start his third self-funded cycling trek of more than 1,000 miles to raise awareness and funds to combat child trafficking.
On Monday, Nov. 16, Janssen departs from Homestead, FL, south of Miami, for a five-day, 800-mile bike ride to Sandy Springs City Hall, arriving Saturday, Nov. 21. He hopes to raise $12,000 for ZOE International.
Redcay said the public is invited to bike with him for his final miles. Police officers will escort him from the Sandy Springs border to City Springs next Saturday.
“As a father of a teenage daughter, I have also dedicated myself to serving and protecting our youth,” Redcay said. “Through this cycling trek, I am taking the commitment one step further — using my personal time, money, and passion for cycling to shine a light on an issue that affects vulnerable children around the world as well as right here in our community.”
Officer inspired by service
Redcay is a full-time bike patrol officer who works primarily in downtown Sandy Springs. For nearly the past decade, his annual vacations have been ultra-distance cycling treks, which he calls “therapy tours.”
ZOE International is a Christian nonprofit dedicated to rescuing children from human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and abuse. Redcay said his introduction was during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he reconnected with a high school friend who had been oversees working with the nonprofit to rescue and care for trafficking victims.
“The story has just made me sick,” he said. “It was crazy… I’ve never heard of people looking at children as literally just money. At the end of dinner, I said, ‘I don’t know what my role is with ZOE, but I’m in.’ And ever since then, I’ve supported them both financially and with my time.”
In 2022, he started fundraising for ZOE International during his annual long-distance bike rides. ZOE International rescues, restores, and educates children who have been victimized by human traffickers, operating in five countries with several homes for rescued children.
“Child trafficking is the second most profitable criminal enterprise next to drugs, just blows my mind that so many people view our kids as literally a commodity,” Redcay said. “All these kids have something different that’s just missing and they got caught up in this lifestyle, they got groomed, and next thing you know, they’re in a situation that they have zero control over and they are really stuck.”
Redcay said he was attracted to the nonprofit because everyone is welcome in the homes, free of charge, and given the time they need to move forward.
“They’re giving a safe space to heal … these homes are everything,” Redcay said. “ZOE is doing both: rescue and programs for victims afterward.”
Miami to Sandy Springs
For his third bike-ride fundraiser in support of ZOE’s mission, Redcay said he scaled back his ride by a couple hundred miles and chose a flatter trek.
The former marathon runner took to biking after an injury. In 2022, he brought camping supplies on his 1,000-mile ride from Texas, but said the weight was too much. Now, he stays in hotels after biking for more than 100 miles.
Before joining the SSPD, Redcay served as a police officer and detective in Arizona for seven years, then moved to metro Atlanta with his now ex-wife to be closer to their families in 2015.
After a few years making “good money” in a corporate role, Redcay said he was miserable.
“I ran into this guy I was in the Marine Corps with who just happens to be a police officer with Sandy Springs, and he and I started chatting,” he said. “We had dinner, and within a month, I was back in the police academy.”
When Sandy Springs Police Chief Kenneth DeSimone mentioned starting a bike unit, Redcay said that, as a passionate cyclist, he volunteered immediately. That was about eight years ago.
Redcay said his Nov. 16-21 cycling trek from the southern tip of Florida will be documented on social media by his girlfriend, and he hopes to do an interview from the road.
“It’s all about exposure, not for me, but to get ZOE’s mission accomplished,” he said. “That’s what it really comes down to.”
