May 30, 2015
City of Wildwood Police Department/Facebook
A Wildwood police officer stands next to a poster on the shore town's Boardwalk urging parents to tell their kids that police are there to help them, not arrest them.
The Wildwood police want parents to know that they're around to help their children, not haul them off to jail.
The department is pushing that message through a number of posters along the New Jersey shore town's boardwalk. In a Facebook post, Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto explained the reasoning behind the PSAs:
“Over the course of a season, we hear hundreds of parents tell their children, ‘Don’t do anything bad or he (the officer) is going to arrest you. We don’t want children to be fearful of police officers. We want them to know that police officers are their friends and are there to help them.”
The post goes on to explain that the posters, featuring the faces of patrolmen Andrew Kolimaga and Rhameir Edwards, are there to urge parents to tell their kids to look at police as people who could help them when they are in need.
WPD Boardwalk Ads Aim to Keeps Kids Safe: http://t.co/SQTDUuA7sB pic.twitter.com/zDlo8pMD4g
— Wildwood Police Dept (@WildwoodPD) May 29, 2015
They also urge parents to sign up for alerts from the department by texting WPD3 to 888-777. The posters list the Wildwood police website (www.wildwoodpd.com) as well. However, their website is currently under construction.
