Promoting safety in the East Meadow community

Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves, Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey and the Nassau County Police Department’s 1st and 3rd Precincts presented the East Meadow community with National Night Out on Aug. 3.
   
National Night Out is a nationwide program that promotes the partnership between police departments and the communities they serve. Events in Nassau County were held in several parks, including Veterans Memorial Park in East Meadow.
    
“Because of programs like this, the community comes together,” said Gonsalves.
   
The event featured tables with information on different safety programs including Megan’s Law and the relatively new program, REACH (Return Every Adult and Child Home). The REACH Program is designed to help kids with disorders and the elderly. If a person registered in the program ever goes missing, REACH immediately sends out a picture and contact information.  Members of the REACH staff were at National Night Out to allow people to sign up their child or loved one.
     
Many adults were accompanied by their children, like East Meadow resident Anna Maria Barbieri who brought her two children.
   
“I want to educate my kids and make them more aware of safety,” she said.
   
 Kids on hand had an array of fun options, including free Italian ices, popcorn, face painting and a ventriloquist doll named Jack Ash.
     
The Young Explorers offers teens an opportunity to get a firsthand look at what police work is all about. Deputy Police Chief Rick Capece spearheaded the founding of the program about 14 years ago, with the support of Gonsalves on the Nassau County Legislature.
   
According to Capece, the Young Explorers takes kids interested in law enforcement-related activities and teaches them many aspects of police work. He said the participants do not have to aspire to be police officers, but they should have an interest in the law enforcement field.