Bridges being built ... one kid and one cop at a time
It began during the school year, playing basketball and dodge ball with the kids. The cops and the kids. The kids and the cops.
They rode the same buses together last week from the middle school to watch the Patriots at preseason camp. The cops and the kids. The kids and the cops. Using sports to build bridges. And the momentum ran like a current — bridges, bridges everywhere — all the way to Tuesday night, when more than 300 kids from New London made merry at Ocean Beach with their new friends. The police. No, this is not a narrative you'll see on the national news.
But this is what's become of the 06320.
“You know what all this has done?” acting police chief Peter Reichard was saying, moments before a kid playfully shoved him into the pool. “It gives us ‘street cred' with the kids. That's huge.”
Street cred only happens with passion and compassion. Imagine: the kids of the city feel comfortable enough to turn the police chief and fellow officer Anthony Nolan into starfish, dunking them in the water. Comfortable enough to joke with School Resource Officer Mike Lewis. One even asked him for a piggy back ride earlier this year.
No, this is not the narrative you'll see on the national news. But this is New London. Sure, you may have seen references to Tuesday's National Night Out on the news, aimed to promote harmony between the police and their communities. Bet it didn't come close to rhythms, shapes and forms at Ocean Beach, where so many kids showed
up, they ran out of fluorescent “NLPD” T-shirts for the kids to wear.
“This gets police officers to go into the community and be seen in a different light,” Reichard said. “If you look around, you'll see 15-20 off-duty police officers volunteering their time to come and spend some time with the kids.
“The city kids, a lot of them don't have the opportunity to come to Ocean Beach. Maybe some can't afford it or their parents don't have time to bring them down. So we make sure we put out a good environment for the kids. Use of the pool, the boardwalk, the rides (free of charge), all the law enforcement and military vehicles the kids can take a look at. It's a mix of the kids, the cops and volunteers from the community together as one.”
The kids blew sirens and horns from all the different vehicles from New London, Mashantucket, Coast Guard, Sub Base and Amtrak. All there because officers and other law enforcement officials volunteered their time. Why? They care.
This is the brainchild of former School Resource Officer Max Bertsch, now a patrol sergeant in the city. Bertsch partnered with Dave Sugrue at Ocean Beach, who offered the whole place for the event. Sugrue, grinning through a sunburned face Tuesday, gazed in wonder at the scene around him — kids having fun on a summer night at the beach — and said, “It doesn't get any better than this, does it?"
To reiterate: You think this happens everywhere? What other city has a venue like Ocean Beach, police officers who care this much and so many volunteers?
And so what began humbly seven years ago has turned into a major bash. Bridges built one kid and one cop at a time.
“This event wouldn't exist without Max Bertsch,” Reichard said.
Picture this one: Bertsch and Lewis went to the Crystal Avenue high-rise recently, sirens howling and lights flashing, to … wait for it … hand out permission slips and fliers about Tuesday night. Tremendous response. Bertsch alluded to a police initiative called “turn your lights on and communicate.”
Just thinking out loud here … but wouldn't that, you know, be sound advice for everyone in our city? Especially for the alarming number of Central Office staffers and administrators who curiously didn't make their way to Ocean Beach on Tuesday, despite more than 300 of their kids there? Turn your lights on and communicate. “Interacting with the kids has been so much fun,” Reichard said. “I get reports from my officers. The kids tell them ‘we played basketball against you and it was so much fun.' The kids remember the officers. I go out in public in different places and the kids will come up to me and talk. You'll see kids wearing the ‘building bridges' shirts. We know we interacted with them.” And learned something from them, too. “They're funny. They ask a lot of inquisitive questions while we're sitting there having lunch at the middle school with them,” Reichard said. “It's not what you're seeing on the national news. But they ask personal questions. Really interesting. The kids are great in New London. It's been fun developing friendships with the staff inside the schools, too.”
Mad props and bon mots to all the gang who made it possible. A great night. And all of you with the six-figure salaries who missed the opportunity to bond with the kids and the cops?
Turn your lights on and communicate. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro