Page 32 - July2019 FOP Magazine

Community Policing Spotlight
The power of Officer Friendly
■ BY DAN CAMPANA AND ERIKA WURST
Officer Tom McNamara recalls the day he rolled up to the scene of a disturbance between neighbors, the type of call cops encounter more times than they will ever be able to count.
This one sticks with him, though, because it happened a few years back, when he was working patrol in the 014 while also spending some of his time as Officer Friendly.
As McNamara approached the scene of the dispute, a young girl ran up, hugged him and then proceeded to guide him to meet her parents — one of the parties involved in the reported complaint. The girl introduced McNamara and excitedly said, “Officer Friendly came to visit me,” McNamara remembered.
“The whole situation fell into the background,” McNamara said, recalling the interaction with the girl who knew him from school. “People get to see you differently.”
The Officer Friendly concept goes back to simpler days, when the program offered tips about crossing the street safely and not talking to strangers. The modern Officer Friendly encoun- ters a generation that needs reminders about internet safety and, unfortunately, might also harbor distrust of the police.
McNamara, a Southwest Side native, thinks he could have been a teacher if he hadn’t followed in his father’s footsteps to
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join the “family business” as a police officer. For most of his 13 years he worked patrol beats, but took advantage of the oppor- tunity to get into schools.
“I wanted kids to see us past the uniform,” he explained.
He’s had more chances to do just that since shifting to the CAPS office and regularly spending time with local youth in his role as Officer Friendly. And his story of competing on NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” in 2014 and 2015 illustrates to stu- dents that police do more than just chase bad guys.
“You can see they’re invested. They see officers do other stuff,” McNamara said, noting that kids ask more questions about him being on the show than they do about policing.
Building on the Officer Friendly program themes of safety, teamwork and overcoming obstacles, McNamara recently ac- companied students from Darwin Elementary School in Logan Square to Windy City Ninjas — an indoor obstacle course cen- ter. McNamara saw them working together in ways that showed that his stories and Officer Friendly’s words had resonated.
“To see the message get through, that’s rewarding,” Mc- Namara said.
Whether it’s sharing positive messages on the district’s Twit- ter account or arranging a school visit by Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk, McNamara embraces the work he does to con-