Quite the following
Michael Velino of the WPD, in keeping with tradition, is embarking on another COPSWalk, a 450-mile relay run to Washington, D.C., and this time, thanks to social media, his fifth-grade fans at Citizens Memorial School get to track his every move. Velino,
The 450-mile relay run from police headquarters to Washington, D.C. known as COPSWalk is a 17-year tradition of the Woonsocket Police Department in which Patrolman Michael Velino will take part for the first time next week.
But even as the soles of his sneakers slap tarmac in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and beyond en route to his destination, he’ll still be communi- ty-policing in the halls of Citizens Memorial School. How? Thanks to the magic of social media, the seven-year veteran of the WPD will be keeping in touch with teachers Jodi Cifelli’s and Lisa Silvestri’s fifthgraders, letting them know where he is and what he’s doing at least twice a day for the duration of the roughly four-day trek.
“I usually drop in at school two or three times a week,” says Velino. “We talk about social media safety – know who you’re talking to – police proce- dures. Sometimes I even help with homework.”
It was a homework lesson not long ago that got Velino talking about COPSWalk, a fundraiser for the New England Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors. The national nonprofit organization pays for counseling, retreats and other support for families of police officers who die in the line of duty – largely as a result of homicide and job-related vehicular accidents. Each year a team of police officers
“Officer Mike is very visable in our school and I think he’s built a lot of great relationships with our students. We love having him around. Any way we can support him, it’s a wonderful thing.”
—Citizens Memorial Principal Danielle Costa
from the WPD has walked from police headquarters to the nation’s capital to raise money for the event – a record $28,000 just last year.
This year’s installment kicks off Tuesday from the police station on Clinton Street.
The conversation at Citizens Memorial School turned to COPSWalk recently when students asked Velino for help understanding fractions in math class. Velino turned COPSWalk into a math puzzler, asking students to figure out how many times each policeman on the team walks, and how far, if the team consists of 13 members (it does) covering a total of 450 miles in four-mile shifts.
Students got so interested in COPSWalk Velino wanted to figure out a way to keep them involved while he is away for the event, which coincides with National Police Week and culminates with services at the National Police Memorial in Washington, D.C.
At least twice a day, Velino says, he’ll post something to Facebook, providing his location and a few visual details of the surroundings.
A father of three, the oldest of whom is nine, Velino says interacting with the youngsters at Citizens Memorial is one of the most enjoyable things he does as a policeman.
“The point is to engage students in a positive manner,” he says. “Everyone wants to high-five when you go by. It’s positive for the kids. It’s positive for the police too.”
As word of Velino’s plan to let fifthgraders plot-point his path all the way to the nation’s capital got around, the whole thing seemed to take on a life of its own. He even talked Durham Student Services, the school department’s transportation provider, into giving his charges a free ride to police headquarters Tuesday morning for the departure ceremony.
“Officer Mike is very visible in our school and I think he’s built a lot of great relationships with our students,” says Citizens Memorial Principal Danielle Costa. “We love having him around. Any way we can support him, it’s a wonderful thing.”
Detective Lt. Edward Cunanan, a key organizer of COPSWalk, praised Velino for getting students to focus on the risks police officers face every day – too often with fatal consequences.
According to Officer Down, a website that tracks line-of-duty police deaths, 43 police officers have died in the line of duty across the country so far this year. The number equals that of all of 2016.
Many of the fatalities were the result of vehicular accidents that occurred on the job, but in 2016 the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths among police was gunfire, claiming 15 lives. The death toll from gunfire this year is 13 so far.
“There are police officers getting killed in the line of duty,” said Cunanan. “To get young people to think about that and to understand the reality of that, that’s a good thing. Officer Mike’s been a positive influence in the school and I think what he’s doing is fantastic.”
In addition to Velino, a dozen other city police officers will participate in COPSWalk next week. They are Cunanan, Lt. Norm Galipeau, Lt. Brad Scully, Sgt. George McMann, Officers Enrique Sosa, Justin Mowry, Michael Martinsen, Joseph Wasilewski, Greg Klocek, Matt Labine and Scott Whiting.
Founded in 2001, COPSWalk used to raise money exclusively through individual pledges to team members. But the organization is always striving to outdo itself and has since developed new strategies to raise funds, including a bowl-a-thon, a comedy dinner and a “tag day” roadside collection.
The proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the families of two police officers from New England who died in the line of duty in 2016. They are Massachusetts State Trooper Thomas L. Clardy and Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. of the Auburn, Mass., police department.
Clardy was struck and killed by a motorist in the high-speed lane of I-90 in Charlton during a motor vehicle stop last March. Tarentino was shot to death in May during what seemed like a routine motor vehicle stop.
While Velino is helping curious students understand what COPSWalk is all about, Cunanan says the officer’s biggest achievement is just showing up at school to be a supportive friend.
“We see the trend where the position of police officer doesn’t carry the respect that it used to,” says Cunanan. “He’s helping rebuild that.”