Ridgewood Police Launch Youth Ambassador Program

As part of its community policing initiative, the Ridgewood Police Department is looking to hear from everybody.

That includes the group of 18 fifth grade, middle and high school students who met with Chief John Ward Oct. 11 to take part in the department’s new youth ambassador program, designed to develop youth leadership and help police reach out to a segment of the community with unique perspectives on public safety issues.

Ward said that the idea developed earlier this summer after Michael Feeney, a nine-year-old Ridgewood resident battling Ewing Sarcoma, became the village’s honorary “chief for the day."

When the day ended, Ward said, “He handed me back the badge and I told him: ‘Now you’re going to be on call.’”

“I wanted to do something to keep Mike involved and we thought rather than just Mike, let’s get everybody involved,” he said.

Working with the board of education and Gregory Wu, the assistant principal of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, the chief hopes to bring together young residents a couple times a month.

The idea is for the students to learn project management and other skills through sharing perspectives on anti-bullying and other issues relevant to younger residents, such as a Halloween safety campaign discussed at the first meeting.

But the bigger idea is that through the work, the students will develop the leadership skills and confidence in themselves that will help stem substance abuse and other trouble early on, Ward said.

“Once you know your core values, once you have a vision of what you’d like to become with your life, it’s easier on that track,” he said. “It gives us the opportunity to work with the kids in a positive setting as peers.”

Right now, the focus is on crafting a mission statement for the work they’ll be doing, Ward said. But when it takes off, the program will strive to actively involve the youth with regular meetings and internet communication.

“We’re going to get their input,” Ward said. “If you’re truly doing community policing, community engagement, the youth is a huge segment of the population. They have a lot of ideas, and I want to build on their creativity and their innovation.”