Florham Park Local 78 members
build classroom connections
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When it comes to community policing, Florham Park Local 78 makes sure that the presence of officers in the school setting is a priority. Over the years, Local 78 has assigned multiple school resource officers to run programs within the town’ s K-8 district.
In October 2017, Local 78 launched the Adopt-A-Cop third-grade program to continue to strengthen the relationship between officers and students. The Adopt-A-Cop program was designed to create classroom interactions with cops throughout the school day, as is done in every other grade level through programs like DARE and LEAD.
“ We want to get our officers involved in the community and have students get to know officers,” states Florham Park Acting Chief of Police Joseph Orlando.“ This not only introduces new officers to the students, it builds lasting relationships, increases our presence in the schools and thereby increases school security.”
Officers kicked off the new program at a special assembly at Brooklake Elementary School, where Local 78 members held up posters for their assigned third-grade class that featured their picture and interesting facts and personal information about them. Following the assembly, the“ adopted” officers had an opportunity to visit their classroom to introduce themselves and start getting to know the students.
Throughout the school year,“ adopted” Local 78 members have actively coordinated with teachers to schedule regular visits, attend field trips and class parties, and present important character lessons to the students. The most popular interactions with students take place during gym class and recess, when the students celebrate the opportunity to interact with officers in an informal setting and get to know them as human beings.
“ We want them to learn that police officers are people who have families, hobbies, likes and dislikes just like they do,” says Lieutenant Scott Bartell, who is the commanding officer for the Community Policing Division within Florham Park Police Department.“ This helps humanize the officers and hopefully will create a lasting bond.” d
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64 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ FEBRUARY 2018