Commendable Progress

To the Editor:

As a member of the Newtown Police Commission, I should like to address one of the areas in which the Police Commission has made commendable progress: that is assuring the safety of our children and young people.

Concerns involving Newtown children have centered on safety in the schools, predators on the internet, underage drinking and drug abuse. The Police Commission has implemented and/or enhanced the following police involvement to deal with those concerns:

1. Safety in the Schools: the assignment of school resource police officers to the John Reed Intermediate School, the middle school and the high school serves to provide a positive personalized police presence, to educate so as to prevent school bullying, and to prevent drug abuse through the DARE program.

2. Implementation of the Child Sexual Predator Program. This acclaimed Internet sting program has resulted in the arrests of numerous predators seeking to abuse under age children. A number of the arrests have actually been made as the predators arrived in Newtown for supposed rendezvous.

3. The passing and implementation of an underage drinking/host party ordinance to curb underage drinking and/or irresponsible parent involvement in fostering the same.

4. At the high school, the presence of the school resource police officer has been beneficial toward preventing alcohol and drug abuse. These efforts have been both education and enforcement minded. Education has involved a continuation of the highly successful Students Police Academy, and enforcement the implementation of the K-9 Officer drug interdiction program set up in cooperation with the Board of Education.

I feel that the present Police Commission has made significant progress in assuring the safety of our children. I hope to continue our work in this area and would appreciate your support on Election Day Tuesday, November 6.

Thank you;

Gerald J. Finnegan

2 Driftway Drive, Newtown                                 September 17, 2007