Cops reward kids doing good with a sweet surprise

Wareham Police Officers have been patrolling the streets of Wareham and Onset while keeping an eye out for kids doing good. 

Police officers are hitting the streets with an extra tool — gift certificates good for one ice cream cone at either Nana’s, Perry’s, or Kool Kone.

When they spot kids doing the right thing, they just might give them a sweet reward.

The program was inspired by a similar one in Acushnet, and was pitched by Sgt. Steven Soqui. 

Officer Calib LaRue used police association funds to purchase 150 ice cream cone coupons, fifty from each establishment, at the beginning of June, and have already given out half of them.

“It’s funny, we hoped that they would last the summer, but there’s a lot of kids out there doing the right thing,” LaRue said. 

One ice cream cone recipient, Karley Pinto, spotted smoke coming from her neighbor’s home. Thinking fast, she called 911 to report the emergency. Her quick thinking led to a good outcome.

Officer Joseph Cardoza gave her an ice cream cone coupon as an extra reward, and her little sister got one, too.

LaRue said that he gave out coupons to kids who were all safely buckled into their booster seats in the car when that car was rear-ended. Following the rules and buckling up kept them safe in the accident and earned them a treat, too. Other recipients earned ice cream cones for wearing their helmets while biking.

“Being a police officer, there's so many different ways you interact with people, and this is one of those positive outcomes. There's a lot of negative interactions you have with people, and most of the time, you're dealing with people on the worst day of their life,” LaRue said. He added that the program has been good for officers, too, because it gives them a chance to look out for people doing the right thing.

“It’s positive. Just one way to unite us with people,” LaRue said.