ORONO, Maine — Education and personal interaction are important factors in trying to combat bullying and substance abuse among young people.
Toward that end, the police departments in Bangor and at the University of Maine have launched a new program intended to raise awareness about those issues among elementary and middle school children in Greater Bangor.
In conjunction with UMaine and its athletics department, the police departments are spearheading a new “Kids ‘n’ Kops” trading card program.
A series of 14 trading cards featuring UMaine student-athletes who play Division I sports at the state’s flagship university will be available to local youngsters. Each card includes a photo of an athlete and a catchy phrase designed to promote awareness of bullying and drug prevention.
Among those on the cards are: Sean Romeo, men’s hockey; Justin Courtney, baseball; Trevor Bates, football; Liz Wood, women’s basketball; Till Gloger, men’s basketball; Nicole Sevey, field hockey; and mascot Bananas T. Bear.
Maine Savings Federal Credit Union is a corporate sponsor for this year’s Kids ‘n’ Kops campaign.
Members of the Bangor and UMaine police departments will distribute the cards at community events, including UMaine athletic contests at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor and on campus.
“We are pleased to be part of a program that promotes an active lifestyle for the youngsters in our community by using student-athletes as an example of hard work and healthy choices,” Bangor Police Chief Mark Hathaway said in a news release. “We appreciate our partnership with UMaine and thank the UMaine student-athletes for their participation.”
After collecting five cards, youngsters may bring them to either of the two police departments for free rewards, including a Kids ‘n’ Kops T-shirt, tickets to UMaine games and other prizes.
“We want to be proactive in promoting quality goals for healthy living to young people, many of whom we hope will be future UMaine Black Bears,” UMaine Police Chief Roland LaCroix said in a prepared statement. “It’s important that youths know that police officers can be helpful resources and UMaine student-athletes are role models they can look up to.”
Former UMaine basketball player and head coach Skip Chappelle and UMaine alumnus Irv Marsters, the owner of Bangor Letter Shop, were among the community members who spearheaded the Kops ‘n’ Kids initiative.
The goal of the program is to foster positive interactions between police officers and young people and to reinforce important messages about health and well-being.
“My thought was to continue the positive rapport that our youngsters have with our police officers,” Chappelle said. “If we can take their heros, our high-profile Division I athletes and our police officers in Bangor and at the University of Maine, we will have two outstanding messengers.”
This program is similar to an initiative called Kids & Kops that Chappelle spearheaded as part of an anti-drug campaign at UMaine from 1986-88.
Those trading cards also featured UMaine student-athletes, several of whom went on to professional sports careers. They included former NHL standouts Eric Weinrich and Jack Capuano, who is now the coach of the New York Islanders.
Other former notables include Matt Rossignol, Jim Boylen, Jeff Plympton, Dan Kane, Bobby Wilder, Lynn Hearty Coutts, Michelle Duprey, Coco Barry and Tina Ouellette.
“We believe in the long-term value of a program that brings together the youth of our community and the police,” Chappelle said.
“We’d like to emphasize to the kids that they share the message at home and start a conversation at home with a mother, father or another adult, or at school,” he added.