New Britain is launching a new program called ‘Bee Responsible,’ focused on having city police officers build positive relationships with fifth graders in the schools.
Nick Dresko, a detective for New Britain Police, is one of the 10 officers in the program. He’s a father of three kids and already works in the city’s youth bureau.
“I see some of the disconnects between the youth in the city and the police department. And I thought this was a great program to get involved in where we can kind of start rebuilding that relationship,” said Dresko.
Over a period of 10 weeks, officers will talk with the fifth graders about being responsible and making good decisions, internet safety and cyberbullying.
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“Our kids, especially at that age, are all glued to their electronics. They don't understand that the things that they say on the electronics are hurtful sometimes and that they're there kind of forever,” Dresko said.
Officers will also discuss mental health and inclusivity and youth substance use.
“We want to make sure that our kids have those refusal skills and can delay their use as much as possible, and have the skill sets to do so,” said Mallory Deprey, the community services program manager for New Britain
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Deprey said they modeled ‘Bee Responsible’ after a program that was already successful in Southington.
She knows how impactful this could be because she already works with a lot of the city’s youth through other programs in the NBRecovers initiative.
“We do have a lot of addiction that goes on in the city, a lot of trauma related to the police department. So we want to try to break those barriers at a young age,” said Deprey. “Get our kids to make better choices, choose positive peer-to-peer pressure.”
Part of the funding is coming from national settlements with drug companies, according to New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart. She said towns are seeing tens of thousands of dollars every year.
“A lot of our cities across the state and towns are receiving this opioid settlement money and they don't know what to do with it. This is a really great way to impact your youth in the community,” said Stewart.
Stewart, Duprey and Matthew Marino, the city’s new police chief, all grew up in New Britain and Stewart said they are looking to make a long-term impact on the city’s youngest citizens.
“One of my biggest things over the rest of my career is really making it a point to switch from community-oriented to community-invested, where the community believes and trusts that we are that much a part of them, not just from a law enforcement standpoint, but from a group of people that really genuinely care about where the kids go and where the community goes,” Marino said.
Deprey said they chose fifth grade specifically so they could influence the kids and promote positive decision-making skills before they hit middle school and the peer pressure builds.
“We have our community partners within our local prevention council that are providing after-school programs. We have street teams that go into the middle schools and do special activities, and we also have a youth council that empowers our teenagers to plan and do activities for kids that are sober events, substance-free events, and just positive fun in the city. So fifth grade is building them up to that,” said Deprey.
