From Monday, July 24 to Thursday, July 27, the Haddonfield Police Explorers Summer Camp brought a hands-on experience in policing to Haddonfield students in sixth through tenth grades.
Haddonfield police Lt. Stephen Camiscioli said when Mayor Neal Rochford came to him wondering about the feasibility of bringing a youth police camp to Haddonfield, he knew it was something he wanted to take on.
Camiscioli said anyone who knows him knows he never does anything half-heartedly. He said he got it in his head he wanted to bring Haddonfield youth a fun-filled policing camp and end it with a police helicopter landing demonstration, and so that’s what he did. On Thursday, July 27, the Haddonfield Police Explorers watched as the State Police’s Aviation Unit landed a helicopter in Crows Woods.
From Monday, July 24 to Thursday, July 27, the Haddonfield Police Explorers Summer Camp brought a hands-on experience in policing to Haddonfield students in sixth through 10th grades. The camp was geared at youths interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement.
Camiscioli began planning the camp’s four days of activities about five months ago. He said he reached out to his police friends at both the county and state levels and was thrilled to learn they were willing to help.
Campers learned about policing at the municipal level on Monday and Tuesday by taking a tour of the department, getting to use police equipment and by learning hands-on crime scene processing skills such as lifting fingerprints. The second day of camp had the explorers driving golf carts while wearing fatal vision goggles simulating the effects of drunk driving.
On Wednesday, Camiscioli upped the ante for the explorers, organizing a field trip to Camden County Central Communications where the explorers went on a tour of the County’s Emergency Operations Center, which was followed by a demonstration by the Camden County sheriff’s K-9 unit and bomb squad.
The bomb squad did a demonstration for the campers and set off a charge that had the kids picking up the pieces for evidence. Camiscioli said the experience was a novel one for both the kids and himself. He said not only did the kids get to see some of the behind-the-scenes work, but after 22 years of policing, he got to see what is happening on the other side of his radio during the tour of central communications.
On the final day of camp, he hoped the takeaway for campers was, despite unfavorable portrayals in the media, police officers are working hard to make their communities better places.
“We want to show the community this is who we are; [these are] the people behind the badge and this is what we do,” Camiscioli said. “If we actually plant a seed in the kids’ minds that some day you can become a cop, these are the avenues.”
For 12-year-old Libby DeMichele, the experience gave her unexpected insights into police work. She said watching crime dramas on television initially got her interested in becoming a detective, and when she heard about the police explorers camp she thought it’d be a great opportunity to learn more.
Libby’s eyes were opened to just how much work goes on behind the scenes within the police department. She said there’s more to police work than she initially thought going into the camp, and the four days gave her a crash course.
“We learned how to check a house if there’s a burglary,” she said. “We learned how to pull a car over if they’re speeding, how to pull a car over if there’s a felony or a dangerous person.”
Eleven-year-old Caroline Holfelner said her favorite part of police explorers was riding around in the golf carts wearing the goggles that simulate drunk driving. She said every cone on the road represented a pedestrian, and the simulation showed the explorers just how dangerous drunk driving can be.
Caroline said she was particularly excited when Camiscioli and his fellow officers surprised the explorers with the helicopter landing.
“I think helicopters are rare,” she said enthusiastically. “It’s a rare chance that you can see them or go in them.”
For 13-year-old Aidan Moore, the highlight of the camp was watching the Camden County bomb squad at work. He said members of the squad wear more than 100 pounds of gear, and he was shocked by how much work it entails to remain safe when dealing with potential explosives.
Aidan said the camp has him looking at becoming a police officer and working on a bomb squad.
“[Police officers have a] really important job in the town, and they work really hard to keep us safe,” he said.
Thus far, Camiscoli said he’s received an outpouring of positive feedback from both the explorers and their parents. He said parents have even joked that they want their own camp because their kids made the experience sound so enjoyable.
Having introduced the explorers to the municipal, county and state levels of police work, Camiscoli said he’s already looking ahead to next year to figure out how he can get officers at the federal level involved.
