Huntingtown, MD – “Sometimes it’s hard to put into words, you see changes in these children,” said counselor Katie McDonough. For most of Calvert County’s Camp COPS’ history, McDonough has been involved in the mid-summer’s week session at King’s Landing Park in Huntingtown.
The camp is in its 19th year. The word COPS in this case stands for “Courage to be Outstanding with Pride and Self-confidence.”
According to Larry Titus, a retired Maryland State Police (MSP) trooper who currently serves as Calvert County Public Schools’ Community Resource and School Safety specialist, the 2015 camp has 120 campers plus 10 senior campers who work as mentors. The programs are especially geared toward the males and females who are about to enter middle school. Over one dozen law enforcement officers from several federal, state and local agencies along with volunteers from Calvert Advanced Life Support (CALS, Company 10) provide supervision, expertise and support during the five-day camp.
Camp COPS is provided free of charge. However, the enrollment is limited, since there are expenses incurred. Titus said funding is provided by several Calvert County businesses and private donations. Volunteers from Dunkirk Baptist Church prepare daily lunches for the campers at no cost.
Titus, who has been involved with the camp since it was established in 1996, said many of the original campers are now troopers, deputies and federal agents. “They come back and say ‘thanks,’ ” said Titus.
In light of many recent stories in the news about strained relationships in certain locales between citizens and law enforcement, Titus affirmed that Camp COPS is important to Calvert County in forging a bond within the community.
Noting that some of the children participating in the camp experience come from neighborhoods and homes where law enforcement has had to take a reactive stance, McDonough said Camp COPS “shows them [the children] that law enforcement isn’t the enemy. The instructors teach respect and discipline. My love for law enforcement came from this camp. My first year of camp showed me how wonderful these people are. By the end of the week you’ve made a new friend. It’s good community policing.”
McDonough, who participated in three sports at Patuxent High School before graduating in 2008, said her Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) instructor, a state trooper, told her to give Camp COPS a try when she was in the fifth grade.
“Back then, I thought cops were the bad guys,” she admitted. However, since that first experience at the camp, McDonough, who is a mother and works fulltime as a cashier at a local grocery store, always spends a week of her vacation time to volunteer at Camp COPS.
During the camp’s midweek session, local correctional officers were conducting sessions with the attendees about procedures at the detention center, demonstrating safety equipment that is worn while on the job. At another station, two deputy fire marshals, John Tennyson and John Nelson, were conducting demonstrations. Tennyson showed how the agency’s Bomb Squad used a special tool for remotely opening suspicious packages. Nelson and his K-9 partner of seven years, Charlie, demonstrated how they team up to locate the presence of fire accelerants.
The campers also participated in physical activities—lots of running, calisthenics and kickball.
According to F/Sgt. Al Paton of the MSP’s Prince Frederick Barrack, the biggest challenge to keeping the midsummer program going is funding. “We’re cutting it close,” he said of the funds needed to keep Camp COPS going. The sour economy has made procurement of funds for expenses difficult.
Paton said any business owner or individual who would like to help out should contact either him at the MSP barrack—410-535-1400—or Titus at Calvert County Public Schools—410-535-1700.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com
