MANSFIELD — The Friendly House hosted its 20th annual “Community Event” Saturday featuring local law enforcement.
Students from area elementary schools came to play games and interact with police and government officials, helping create a bond between law enforcement and the Mansfield community.
Todd Newberry, a retired lieutenant who worked with the Mansfield Police Department created the ACE program as the community-policing officer in 1996.
“(As a community-policing officer,) our focus was resolving issues. If you had a house or a location that was a repeated problem, instead of sending a patrol response, the idea was to go and actually solve the problem. If you solve the problem, you stop having to go back time and time again,” Newberry said. “Another part of that program was we spent time with youth and the community as much as we could.
“In the 90s, I noticed we had a lot of kids who came to school every day and worked hard. They may not have been straight ‘A’ students or star athletes, but they were not getting into trouble. A little recognition sometimes is enough of an encourager to move on in the right direction.”
The ACE program was created for hard-working students with good attendance, Newberry said. Elementary teachers choose two or three students from their classroom to come and interact with police officers for a day of fun.
“It’s really great for the kids, a great opportunity for kids to get out and have fun with everybody and also interact with the law enforcement community,” said Richland County prosecutor Bambi Couch-Page. “In this time, it’s one of those things that with all the negative publicity that goes along with law enforcement, it’s very important kids do understand (police) have a positive role in society and they are not bad people.”
“The ACE program has been very active in promoting a very positive law enforcement image in the community (for the past 20 years). I think that is one of the reasons Richland County doesn’t have some of the problems other communities have had in terms of the law enforcement and how people react to them.”
Sgt. Jon Ahles, a member of community policing with the MPD, said the importance of maintaining friendliness within the community is paramount for doing good police work.
“A lot of times, the only interaction the kids get with the police department is when we show up because something bad is happening in their life. This actually gets them to see us in a different light. We’re not arresting or writing tickets; we are playing with them,” Ahles said. “I know first-hand that once kids start to get familiar with you, they start to tell you things that are going on and it kind of helps foster relations that way.”
Newberry said the program’s emphasis on unity begun in 1996 is the same as it is today and he believes it will have similar importance in 20 more years.
“(Kids) come down here, and you don’t have a bunch of guys standing around in uniforms looking at them. (Officers) are playing basketball. They are down in the game room — everyone is having a good time,” Newberry said. “We’ve funded the entire thing with donations and volunteer labor; It’s amazing to see that after 20 years, it’s still going on.”
