Lebanon police sweeten the deal with ice cream patrol

By Meghan Pierce, New Hampshire Union Leader
Original article HERE

Imagine as a child you are at the park on a hot summer day with your parents when you hear the sound of an ice cream truck, but instead it’s a police cruiser on ice cream patrol and out of the back police officers pull out a small freezer and start passing out free popsicles and ice cream cups.

“That leaves a pretty positive impression with kids of any age and I think that’s what we shooting for,” Lebanon Police Chief Richard Mello said Tuesday.

The “Ice Cream Patrol” is the department’s newest community engagement program, Mello said.

Mello said he was inspired by a few police departments across the country that have an ice cream patrol, including the Boston Police Department, which actually went out and bought an ice cream truck.

Lebanon police don’t have that kind of budget for this program, he said, so instead they bought some decals to place on a police cruiser that reads “Ice Cream Patrol.” The decals can be taken on and off.

The department also bought a portable freezer that can be plugged into the cigarette lighter in a police cruiser, he said.

They rolled out the program at the National Night Out, which is an annual nationwide campaign aimed at promoting police-community relations and with the goal of making safer neighborhoods.

Trust with the police and neighborhood camaraderie both need to be nurtured, Mello said.

“They aren’t built automatically,” Mello said. “As you can see across the country it doesn’t take much to erode that trust. So we have to work consciously every day to build those relationships.”

Mello said the ice cream patrol is a lot like the department’s coffee with a cop events, except aimed at the youth of the community.

“We want to break down those barriers and give them an excuse to interact with us,” Mello said.

Since announcing the ice cream patrol officially on Monday the department has received requests from at least seven different neighborhoods for the patrol to visit. Mello said the patrol will be out on Thursday afternoon hopefully to those neighborhoods as well some city parks.

“There’s no agenda. It just gives us an opportunity to do something different,” Mello said.

If you wish to have the Lebanon Police Department’s Ice Cream Patrol vehicle visit your neighborhood, go to police@lebcity.com.