Photo by Eugene Driscoll
Officer Kris Matthews, Aaron, Asion, and Sgt. Brian Grogan.
DERBY — There was a moment Thursday evening when a third grader’s eyes lit up with recognition on Fourth Street.
“That’s Matthews! That’s Matthews! I know you from school,” the boy, Aaron, said while looking up at Derby Police Officer Kris Matthews.
“That’s right,” Officer Matthews said, before joking about being the best police officer around.
Then Aaron and his buddy, Asion, a seventh-grader, were off to get some free ice cream.
That’s how it went Thursday as the 4 to 12 shift of the Derby Police Department traveled the city with an ice cream truck from Jim’s Ice Cream giving away free ice cream to Derby kids.
The officers dubbed it “Operation Cool Down.”
Photo by Eugene Driscoll
Officer Eric Grella gives out stickers with safety advice to a young boy on Anson Street.
It’s part of a formal effort within the department to improve relations between residents and police. That’s why you’ve seen “coffee with a cop” a bunch of times in Derby, and it’s why some officers have been in the schools teaching classes on law enforcement or civics.
The idea for “Operation Cool Down” happened after Officer Tim Conlon spotted a kid selling lemonade on Anson Street. He purchased some lemonade and went around the neighborhood handing it out to help the kid.
Photo by Eugene Driscoll
Happy customers with Derby PD on Caroline Street.
Sgt. Scott Boulton heard about it and came up with the idea — why not give out some ice cream on a hot day?
Conlon, by the way, a Derby native, is no stranger to going above and beyond. A few years back he tried to get the city to install a basketball hoop on Hawkins Street to give neighborhood kids something to do. Ultimately the city decided the property’s layout precluded a court, but a new hoop was put up at the Irving School.
“You have to do more within the community,” Conlon said, who served as the official “ice cream man,” in the truck Thursday. “You want to try to get to know people in the community. To let them know you’re not a jerk.”
Photo by Eugene Driscoll
The truck from Jim’s Ice Cream in Seymour.
Being an ice cream man for an hour or so was something different, in a good way, Conlon said.
“If I wasn’t doing this right now, I would be just driving through. This is a chance to show people we’re human,” he said.
Photo by Eugene Driscoll
Officer Tim Conlon serves ice cream on a stick.
Polls done by places such as The Cato Institute and The Pew Research Center show that the majority of Americans have a favorable view of police officers. But the story gets much more complicated when you drill down and look at race, income, and even political affiliation.
A young African-American citizen making less than $30,000 annually generally has a much more negative view of police than an affluent older white person.
Derby’s an economically-distressed city pockets of poverty and a large minority population. The ice cream truck first visited streets that reflect Derby’s reality — Anson Street, Caroline at Fifth Street, Fourth Street.
Those are also areas with lots of young people who, during the summer, may only see Derby police officers responding to negative things happening between 4 p.m. and 12 a.m.
“Operation Cool Down” was a chance to chip away at any stereotypes, officers said.
“Obviously the profession has taken hits,” Lt. Justin Stanko said. “And, in a way, the profession has become complacent when it comes to organizing things like this. It’s good for the kids to see that a cop can get into the back of an ice cream truck and hand out ice cream. There is so much more to police work that is not just enforcement.”
