Your Middle School kid can get to know town police officers as real people beyond a badge, a uniform and the authority to tell them what to do by joining the Cops & Kids Program.
Using a rope course is one of the activities the group may participate in (photo from Darien Police Facebook account).
A total of 20 kids will be accepted into the program, and it’s a good idea to apply ASAP, , said Janice Marzano, director of The Depot youth center, which sponsors the program along with the Darien Police Department.
“We fill it up every year” with kids registering for the program, Marzano said, “and we [regularly] have a waiting list.”
The Darien Cops & Kids online application form is here. According to the application, the deadline for applying is Wednesday, Sept. 2. The Depot website states: “The first 20 applications will be taken and participants will be notified prior to the start of the program.”
Go-kart riding (photo from Darien Police Facebook account)
The police and kids go out on some Saturdays to have fun with activities like a zip line, bowling and go-kart driving. They also do some community service work, such as standing in front of stores and handing out lists of things needed for the town Human Services Department’s pantry closet, Marzano said.
“It’s really an awesome program,” she said.
Police Chief Duane Lovello also strongly supports it. “The program, quite frankly, has been wildly successful,” he said. “We have kids that have graduated from the program three and four years ago who still talk about the program, and I still see their parents. It’s probably one of the most highly rated things we’ve done with the kids.”
Lovello said police officers enjoy it, too, and several officers in particular have been helpful in keeping Cops & Kids going. He mentioned Isaac, Joseph Licari, James Martin and Michael Cummings in particular.
Marzano has also been very helpful in keeping the program going, Lovello said. She’s been “extraordinarily enthusiastic about the program,” he said. “She’s a real asset to the town.”
When the kids take a bus trip for activities such as go-karting or zip lines, Marzano pointed out, the cops go with them and get a further opportunity to interact with the kids.
A Cops & Kids community service activity last year (image from Darien Police Facebook account)
Last week, the Darien Police Commission approved spending up to $10,000 on the program from funds in the false alarm fines account (which had about $35,000 in it before the approval).
The program started with high school kids, but that doesn’t work out as well as having Middle Schoolers, Marzano said. At the younger ages, the kids appreciate being with the cops more and form stronger bonds, she said. “The Middle School kids are like little sponges — they absorb everything.”
The program began in Darien after Officer T. Courtney “Court” Isaac applied for a $10,000-a-year grant from the state Office of Policy Management, Marzano said. The grant runs for a maximum of three years, and a limited number of police officers were allowed to be in the program.
A previous year’s Cops & Kids group photo (from the Darien Police Facebook account)
Starting last year, when the state funding ended, the Police Commission authorized money from the false alarm fines account to pay for it, and last week the commission authorized another year of funding — which would be the program’s fifth year.
Lovello said that since the program looks like it’s something the commission would like to continue permanently, it would be a good idea to put it in the department’s next regular budget request. (That would mean the program would need support from the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting, each of which could vote to deny funding).
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