National Night Out to bolster relationship with law enforcement a success by Matt Pascarella

McGruff, the crime solving dog

On Tuesday evening, August 7^th, the Windham and Gorham law enforcement departments and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department hosted a National Night Out held at Windham High School. This was a community event seeking to strengthen the relationship between townspeople and law enforcement.

Josh Noyse participates in a kayaking demo

The Windham and Gorham Police Departments put on a K-9 demonstration, showcased new drone technology and county SWAT team members were present along with police cars and motorcycles. Various fire apparatus and the DARE to Adventure program were available to talk and showcase their programs as well.

Service organizations such as Domestic Violence, Trauma Intervention and Be the Influence were on hand so the public could learn more about what they do.

Windham Chief of Police and event organizer, Kevin Schofield, said the National Night Out, which Windham began participating in last year, is “an event to give police departments an opportunity to interact with the community; community members to get to know officers, as well as the various types of programs and equipment that are available to help departments serve our communities.”

“[There are] different things that we do to try and keep people safe other than stop them for speeding and putting handcuffs on people,” said Community Services Officer, Matt Cyr. “[The public] gets to see some of the community policing programs…and lets them see some of the equipment and technology that has really come into law enforcement,” Cyr adds.

Residents from Windham and the surrounding communities were in attendance. Some were there to see what it was all about, while others like Windham resident Angela Wyman, came for the child fingerprinting service for child IDs. Standish resident, Kimberly Nielsen was there with her Den 12 female Cub Scout group working on earning their safety badges.

Each law enforcement department “enjoys meeting new people, getting to know our citizens and displaying and demonstrating some of the programs and equipment we have available,” stated Chief Schofield.