NCPSO/CWA Cops Put Kids Safety First
February 4, 2005
By: Janelle Hartman, CWA Staff Writer  |
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling, COPS Executive Director Monty Holden, Tucson Police Officer Bill Ryberg (seated) |
Watch any cop show on TV and you'll see crime scene technicians dusting door handles, coffe cups, and many other items for fingerprints, one of the ultimate clues when it comes to solving a case. NCPSO/CWA members know that fingerprints aren't just important for catching the bad guys. Sometimes fingerprints can help them find a person who's lost or missing.
That's why many of NCPSO/CWA police officers from Tucson, Arizona, regularly volunteer their free time and computer equipment to help ensure safety of thousands of children by providing fingerprint cards that their families can tuck away in case of an emergency. This program is conducted through the Tucson Police Officers Association (TPOA), which is affiliated with AZCOPS, CWA Local 7077.
The TPOA has run the free program in Tucson for five years. This spring, Tucson police officers Rich Anemone, Larry Lopez, and Bill Ryberg, packed up their special computers and printers - purchased by the TPOA - and brought them to Washington, D.C. during CWA's Legislative-Political Conference. These Tucson officers and NCPSO/CWA law enforcement leaders from other parts of the country, came to the conference to talk to members of Congress about important issues, including the need for funds to help police train to protect their communities against terrorism.
But they cleared their schedules for a few hours during the conferene so they could visit a local elementary school and make fingerprint cards, free of charge, for about 400 students. In the past years, a private company had created the cards for students for $6 each, a cost that some families couldn't afford.
On the day that NCPSO/CWA came to their school, the students at Amidon School were all smiles and giggles as they waited in line for their turn to have their fingerprints and pictures taken. Unlike what you see on TV, the equipment the CWA officers use is high-tech. They don't have to roll anyone's fingers in ink - the prints are all taken by computer.
"The kids have been great. They're excited to see their fingerprints," said Rich Anemone, who is President of the NCPSO/CWA, and who helped launch the fingerprint program in Tucson. He and his fellow officers showed the students how the equipment worked, answered their questions and asked a few of their own, such as what the kids knew about "stranger danger." They were pleased to find out that the Amidon students had the right answers.
The officers made just one copy of each fingerprint card and gave it to the student. There are no records. Nothing is kept in the database, so no police officers, school or government officials or anyone else has access to the children's fingerprints.
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling visited the school while the police officers were there and shared laughs and hugs with lots of students. "I'm very proud that our police officers have taken time out to come and do this," she said. "This is a very important program and it goes to the heart of CWA's mission as a community-minded union."
