Back to all news
New police officers join Berea’s Community Engagement Unit: Community Voices
By Linda G. Kramer, Berea Community Blog
Original article HERE
Sgt. Dan Clark, a 20-year-veteran of the Berea Police Department, and Patrolman Joe Friml, who has been with the BPD since 2015, have been assigned to lead the Community Engagement Unit.
Sgt. Patrick Greenhill, who helped to establish the unit in 2015, will stay involved with the Safe Passages drug interdiction program and is now supervising sergeant on the night shift.
“Pat set the foundation,” Chief Joe Grecol said. Now it’s time to give other officers a chance to experience CEU, he said. Clark will remain with the unit for the foreseeable future. Patrol officers will cycle in and out on a yearly basis.
“It will let them look at the city with a different set of eyes,” Grecol said. “They will get to know the community.” And it will help with their careers, Grecol said. Most officers prefer to be on patrol but the CEU gives them a chance to meet the public on a different level. “We want to build a more complete officer,” Grecol said.
The Community Engagement Unit was started by Mayor Cyril Kleem to put police officers in closer contact with residents so people could get to know police beyond the uniform. In the beginning, there were Coffee with a Cop get-togethers to break the ice. CEU officers visit with seniors at the Active Senior Network, go to Boys2Men meetings, speak to civic organizations such as Rotary and Kiwanis and hang out at community events.
In fact, Friml says his favorite visit so far is getting to know seniors and he has taken part in their Wii bowling games in the Active Senior Network Room. “They take those games seriously,” Friml noted. At the same time, he and Clark have visited children and parents during Quarry Kids – a program for preschoolers at the Berea Recreation Center.
“We cover both ends of the age spectrum,” Clark said.
Clark is the former night shift supervisor and trained Friml. The two work well together. Clark sees himself as a student of law enforcement policy and procedures. He devours volumes of material on the subject and enjoys passing along his knowledge to younger officers. “You always want to hone your craft,” he said.
Clark said he looks on the department and the Community Engagement Unit as “Berea-centric.” “We want to talk to people and ask what they expect of us,” he said.
Clark and Friml are working on some new programs. One of them would educate employees at gas stations on what to be aware of when people, especially younger people, buy alcohol, cigarettes or vaping equipment. “Vaping is big right now,” Clark said. “You have to be 18 to buy it, just as with tobacco.”
Clark lives in Berea and volunteers as a coach with the Berea Baseball Association. He is a graduate of Kent State University and the Ohio Peace Officers Academy in Cleveland Heights. He and Friml are both graduates of Lakewood High School. His father was a police officer.
Friml’s father was a firefighter. Friml is a graduate of the Lorain County Community College Police Academy. He is into fitness, lifting weights and working out in the gym. He and his wife, at last count, had 11 pets, including a German shepherd, a rabbit, four cats, two turtles, two ferrets and a bearded dragon lizard. He also is a baker. Cakes are his specialty. “From scratch, naturally,” he added.
Share this post:
