Following her dreams
When a young girl becomes a victim of sleepless nights, a Bradley Beach Local 50 member steps in to save the day
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
It was role model at first sight when 8-year-old Samantha Conway watched Samantha Levy get sworn in as Spring Lake Heights Police Department’ s first full-time female officer. The Conway family was present at the Bradley Beach Local 50 promotion ceremony to support their family friend, Edward Gunnell, as he was sworn in as lieutenant before he became the active chief of police in June. But it was Levy who caught little Sammi’ s attention.
Of all the law enforcement officers that Sammi had in her family, including her grandfather and uncle, she never knew a girl officer – let alone one who shared her name. So when the opportunity presented itself, the young female didn’ t hesitate to weave through the crowd to introduce herself to the newly hired officer.
“ My name’ s Sam, too,” she stated matter-of-factly while looking up at Levy dressed in full uniform. That’ s all it took for the Sam-bond to seal. From then on, whenever Sammi saw Levy at her school, making visits during the day or helping with afternoon dismissal from Spring Lake Heights Elementary, she knew she had a friend in law enforcement who would always be there to protect her.
“ We instantly had this bond,” notes Levy, who knows how important it is to have female officers to look up to after growing up with a mother in law enforcement.“ To be a role model for little girls is just awesome.”
Sammi always felt protected seeing Levy and the other Local 50 members active in the community during the day. But when nighttime came, and it was time for her to go to bed, she no longer felt so safe. Fears of bad guys sneaking in through her bedroom window kept her from falling asleep.
“ It was getting progressively worse,” explains her mother, Lauren Conway.“ Bedtime was around 7:30 p. m., and she wasn’ t falling asleep until almost 10 p. m. She needed every light on in her room.”
Her parents tried everything to put their child’ s worries at ease, but Sammi’ s nighttime anxiety wouldn’ t go away. That is, until a visit from Levy moved Sammi to share her fears with the trusted officer. Levy quickly assured Sammi not to worry and promised that the next day, she would return to the Conway house with something special to help her sleep.
“ I had no idea what I was going to give her,” Levy admits.“ I knew I had to make something. I was looking for things that would make it personal for her.”
Equipped with officer instinct and brilliant creativity, Levy rummaged through her things to build the perfect sleep solution to fend off all of Sammi’ s bedtime fears. It started with a
Samantha Conway( left) stands proudly with her Spring Lake Heights hero, Samantha Levy.
mason jar filled with string lights that Levy used as a festive decoration during the holidays. Levy personalized the light by positioning a Spring Lake Heights Police Department patch inside the jar and adding blue yarn to the top to represent the
56 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JULY 2018