Columbus police set out to hook kids on reading with free program during COVID-19
Columbus police officers are going to try to hook kids on reading by giving them free books.
The campaign to stock police cars with new books was announced at a news conference Monday at the Columbus Public Safety Center.
They were also going to take time to read the books to the children they encounter on patrol, but that’s going to have to wait, thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak that last spring closed down schools.
Having police get that close to someone else’s kids, to pull down their protective face masks and read aloud, would not be safe, during a pandemic.
So for now, they’ll hand out free books, in a nonprofit-funded program to encourage literacy, help make up for lost classroom time and improve police community relations.
Cpl. Paul Moody of the Columbus Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit was among those collecting a basket to give children.
“Reading to them, we won’t be allowed to do that until down the road, a later date,” said Moody, who joined the force in 2009. Once a patrol officer, he now spends much of his time working on crime prevention initiatives with schools, churches, day cares and other groups.
He was among eight city police officers and 13 Muscogee County School District police in the “Real Dads Read” program sponsored by Fathers Incorporated. The books they get to give away are brand new, not second-hand donations.
“They come to the house on big pallets, and we unload them,” said Randalette Williams, the local program director who stocks them away in a storage shed for distribution.
Having new books to present makes a big difference, she said: “If a child has never had a book before, and gets a brand-new book, that’s special. No one else has had it: ‘It’s my brand-new book. I can do whatever I want with it.’”
The hope is that encouraging reading will help make up for some of the instruction kids lost while they were out of school during the pandemic. Research shows school closures have cost students 30% of what they would have gained in reading and 50% in math, according to the program.
Proponents hope this also will improve the relationship between police and the people they are charged to protect, particularly youth who may find law enforcement officers intimidating. The books chosen are for reading levels from kindergarten through eighth grade, and each officer gets a mix.
“We will offer them something of their choice as to something that they might want to read,” said Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren. “It doesn’t cost the children anything, and it doesn’t cost the police department anything to put these in the car, because we’re already going there anyway…. I believe that it will be a plus for everybody involved.”
The supply will not be limited, said Williams, telling the officers who came to get their first allotment: “All you have to do is let us know when you’re running low, and we’ll replenish the books and just keep the program going.”
Moody said the giveaway should help kids see police officers in a different light.
“I think it may encourage them one day to be a police officer,” said the corporal, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, who went into law enforcement because “I wanted to help people in the community, to serve and protect.”
Chief Gregory Arp of the school district police department said his officers were eager to jump in, when he sent out an email about the program.
“Immediately within five minutes, everyone in the department volunteered,” he said.