Camp teaches preteens what the fuzz is all about

BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

BRICK - After the first day of police camp three weeks ago, 10-year-old Eddie Lucasiewicz said he wasn't sure what he had signed up for.

"They were shouting a lot," he said of the 10 Brick Township police officers who serve as the free two-week program's camp counselors. "They kept saying discipline, like, every hour."

"I felt like I was in a different world," said Joseph Pipher, 10. "It was so strict the first day, I was like, oh my God."

This year's group of 53 police campers, all Brick students aged 10 to 13 years old, were expected to report to the courtroom in the township's municipal building by 8:30 a.m. every morning to board the bus to the Ocean County Police Academy in Lakewood's Ocean County Park.

"If you're late you have to do push-ups," said Joe DiLauro, 10.

Fooling around or forgetting your water bottle would also get you a push-up penalty, he said.

"That first day was really hard," said Alissa Voorhees, 10. "After that first day, all you wanted to do is go home and go to sleep."

PHOTOSBY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Top: Uniformed police campers listen as Officer Scott Reitemeyer talks to the platoon about the importance of discipline at the Brick Township Police Department's Police Camp July 26. At left: Police camper Gabby Battaglio, 11, of Brick, feels the squeeze as Officer Chris Gesky handcuffs her during the camp's baton handling and arrest training session. Above: Camper Alissa Voorhees, 10, practices the skills she learned with Officer Gesky. The free, two-week program completed July 28. Since that first day, the campers have ridden shotgun during a high-speed obstacle course in patrol cars; watched State Trooper cadets in training - which included witnessing the trainees getting sprayed in the face with pepper spray; cruised on a State Marine Police boat; taken a trip to the state capitol; got carried away on a stretcher during a first aid class; and watched sharp shooters practice at the township's firing range.

"I've went to camps and nothing compares to this," said Amber MacLeod, 10, after learning how to wrap wounds and make a splint with first aid materials. "We go everywhere and learn something in everything they teach us."

Capt. Douglas Kinney said he got the idea to start a police camp in Brick 10 years ago, after seeing the State Police's youth camp for high school seniors.

"I thought it'd be pretty cool if we could run a camp for younger kids," he said. "It's a chance for kids to actually meet police and see all the cool things we do because this is the best job in the world and maybe some of them would like to do it some day."

One camper has.

Austin Kenny, one of the department's most recent hires, is a police camp alumnus from the program's inaugural year, Kinney said.

"He was a good kid," Kinney recalled. "He went on to be a leader of the [Fire] Explorers and now he's a fine patrolman."

Since Kenny was a police camper the program has grown, said Officer Scott Reitemeyer, who's been working police camp since Kinney started the program a decade ago.

"We used to do a lot more in-house stuff," Reitemeyer said. "We're doing a lot more bus trips and more traveling."

The camp seems to cater to different tastes among campers.

"I liked going to the capitol building because it had a lot of different things. It had gold all over the place," said Katie Donnelly, 13.

Her younger sister, Kuryn, 11, disagreed.

"That was boring," she said. "It was like school."

Unlike school, the campers also learned how to handle a baton and handcuff perpetrators.

"We're going to get to beat up the officers," Nick Esposito, 12, said with a smile.

Lucasiewicz, who was freaked out the first day of police camp on July 14, had settled into the routine by July 26 after he volunteered to pretend to be the victim of a high diving board accident.

"It was awesome," he said after getting strapped into a stretcher. "When they strapped me in, I was shaking because all the straps were around me. Supposedly I jumped into a pool and my head hit the bottom of the pool."

Lucasiewicz has never had the misfortune of having to ride in an ambulance before, but after spending half the day with two township EMTs, Tim Cranmer and Meghan Mees, he said he wouldn't be as scared because he would know what to expect.

"This is pretty awesome," he said. "We learn how to take care of our friends if they get hurt. They were teaching us all kinds of interesting stuff."

The campers had to use all that interesting stuff they learned the previous two weeks of camp when they competed in the police camp's Amazing Race during the program's final two days, Kinney said.

"What they learn today, they'll have to do tomorrow in the Amazing Race," he said.

Like the reality television show, the campers have to work together to complete tasks. Once they solve a puzzle, or complete a challenge, they receive a clue that leads them to the next challenge in the park.

The challenge should have been tough, considering the caliber of this year's campers.

"This year is probably one of the best groups we've had," Reitemeyer said. "Their willingness to participate and the daily reminders of discipline - they get it right away."

The program's become so popular, Kinney said he has to turn away camp applicants every year.

Police from neighboring towns Howell and Middletown in Monmouth County have expressed interest in starting a police camp program in their municipalities, and Point Pleasant began its own program two years ago, Kinney said.

The camp's disciplinary techniques are also becoming popular with parents.

"Now my mom makes me do pushups just to annoy me," said camper Kiera Miller, 11. "I was outside and didn't have my shoes on so she made me do pushups."