Beitel students recognize local officers for National Police Week

The first-graders opened their presentation with a simple song.

“We’d like to thank our officers for helping us each day,” they chanted in unison.

The students then read descriptions of each agency’s duties, from enforcing laws and regulations to securing the scene of a traffic accident. They also shared a series of acrostic poems for each branch of law enforcement, each word spelling out the name of the department or position; Highway Patrol officers were “helpful,” police offers were “loyal,” and the sheriff’s deputies were “important and brave.”

The students were responsible for coming up with the descriptions for each letter, said teacher Mick Oyler.

“We sit down with them and we go through each letter, and they come up with a bunch of different things for each letter, and then they vote on which one they want,” he said. “They pretty much do it themselves — it’s part of a whole group effort.”

While Beitel regularly celebrates occasions like Veteran’s Day, this is the first year the school has hosted an event for National Police Week, Oyler said.

“It might be something that happens every year,” he said.

After their presentation, students had the opportunity to get to know their local officers. They shared ice cream, gave handmade paper badges to the uniformed men and women and asked questions about topics ranging from the color of their uniforms to the responsibilities of a search and rescue team.

Albany County Sheriff Dave O’Malley was a big hit with the students.

“Do you know what we like best about first-graders?” he asked. “Everything.”

Ryan Thompson, an LPD lieutenant of 19 years, said he thought the event was “awesome” — particularly because several officers in attendance had children at the school.

LPD Sgt. Taun Smith, whose son Gauge is a first-grader at Beitel, said he appreciated the children’s work.

“That was really neat,” he said. “To have them recognize what this week means to us means a lot to me as a parent.”