LINDEN, NJ — The annual visit by the Linden Police Department’s Youth Academy to the Linden Airport happened on Thursday, July 20, and, once again, participants were given an exclusive opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the airport that few people ever get a chance to experience.
“The city of Linden’s Police Department, as well as many police departments across the state, run these kid camps in the summer,” said Paul Duddley, Linden Airport Managing Corp. owner and airport director, in an interview with LocalSource on Monday, July 24. “As a rule, they take 30 to 40 kids to different places to give them a taste of who the police officer is and how they work, Linden Airport being one of them. And it’s in the hope of improving community relations and you never know which kid is going to someday be the next police chief.”
“Usually, we try to get either the state police or Newark police, which has been fabulous,” he continued. “The chief pilot, Larry King, goes way out of his way, as does the city of Newark, to go to different schools and different sites to be a part of these different kids camps. The kids love them. They don’t fly them, as it’s too much insurance, but they show them how everything works. Most use of the helicopter involves search and rescue, looking for lost children or supporting officers who may be in great danger on the ground from somebody on a rooftop. They are the eyes in the sky. So they handle and explain everything and the kids love it.”
The trip to Linden Airport is always popular with the students who participate in Linden Police Department’s Youth Academy, Dudley confirmed.
“I consider this so important,” he said. “I was actually away and I came back to do this.”
Dudley praised the police for working with youth to give them an inside look at the police force, something he said could help remove a lot of preconceived notions and misconceptions they might have about police officers.
“It’s wonderful to have officers and departments conduct these camps, where the kids can see, 99.9% of the time, police officers are family men who love their jobs and try to serve their community,” Dudley said. “It’s important that we counterbalance the negative press with the fact that these guys are trying to do good.”
He also acknowledged that some of the participants from the police department youth camp who attended the program could be tomorrow’s police officers.
“The first-hand experience that these kids get shows them that some branch of law enforcement is a great career path,” Dudley said. “You don’t have to be a cop. You can be any of the supporting services, labs, office work, even politicians. There are so many areas that involve police work and for government work in general. It shows the kids that law enforcement is not their enemy. It is a great career and people by and large like to help.”
The highlight for him, as well as for many of the youth visiting, was not, surprisingly, the airport itself, and he was quick to speak of what it had to offer. Dudley is also an active participant of the academy’s activities.
“I continue to support the effort by providing facilities for that day for the camp,” he said. “We take the kids on tour through the airplanes. We take them over to the news helicopter operation, for Channels 2, 4, 5 and 7, which they find fascinating. We have all the news copters here. One of the air crew that works with the talent used to be a police officer and he jumps right into it; Officer Reggie. Your news copter has a crew member who works the camera, plus the talent and, if they’re around, they talk to all the children.”
“And I spring for lunch,” he added with a smile.
“I see what these cops do and I try to follow their example. Being engaged is the best preventive medicine.”
Photos Courtesy of Paul Dudley