Maya McFadden Photo
“Let’s save some lives!” 7‑year-old Jahri Goodman (pictured) yelled into a SWAT truck radio speaker that was parked at the St. Martin Townhouses parking lot Wednesday afternoon during a community “Touch The Truck” event.
The young residents of the 200 Goffe St. apartment complex checked out the truck at an event organized by the police department in the Dwight/Kensington district, the New Haven Fire Department (NHFD), and Jennifer DiMauro, resident services coordinator for the complex.
“We want our kids to trust in our law enforcement and know more about keeping safe,” DiMauro said.
Wednesday marked three months since the two-story apartment fire at the Townhouses at 200 Goffe St. DiMauro said that since the March incident she has been working to put together more fire safety programming for the complex residents.
Lt. John Healy, the top cop for the district (which includes Dwight, West River, and this slice of Dixwell) worked with DiMauro to put the event together for the children and families of the Townhouses. With their fire hats and look-alike police officer badges, the kids learned to use the police vehicles emergency vehicle lighting and the radio speakers.
The kids screeched at the top of their lungs as officers brought a male K‑9 from the police car for them to pet. Many stayed wary of the four-legged officer and his sharp teeth that the officers showed to the kids.
“One of his teeth is almost bigger than my head,” said 11-year-old Honesty Flagler.
The children were educated on fire safety tips by Firefighter Joe Gambrell as the end of the event neared. The kids practiced yelling for “Help” with Gambrell. who left with all the correct answers from the kids to his questions. They showed him that they knew to call 9 – 1‑1 for emergencies only, not to touch hot doors during a possible fire, to stay low to the ground to avoid rising smoke from a fire, and to leave it to the firefighters to save any pets in case of a fire so they remain focused on getting themselves out safely first.
Along with the SWAT vehicle, the children were able to sit on a police motorcycle, and in the many different areas of the Engine 4 fire truck.
“I would ride the motorcycle if I was a cop because I could get there faster to catch the bad guy,” said 11-year-old Laniyah Menafee.
The children danced in the back of the SWAT vehicle as the officers put the radio to the car speaker for all of those in the parking lot to hear.
“I can sleep back here if it had some more ice cream,” said Prince Baines while sitting in the back of the SWAT truck with his brother Royal Baines (pictured above).
The brothers promised each other that they wn’t throw away the plastic badges that they received at the event until they got real ones when they grow up to be police officers.
Who made the decision to use a SWAT truck to visit children?
As a mother, I see this as most inappropriate and evidence of poor judgment.<br /> Do you think this vehicle would be welcome in East Rock or Westville? It is a military type vehicle for the most extreme and violent situations. It is not a harmless toy. It is deployed with weapons!<br /> I can only hope others will sign in on this.