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NORWALK, Conn. – It was "Christmas in April" Wednesday in the parking lot behind Norwalk Police headquarters, as the department's top brass waited to see what Officer Chris Holms would bring.
"You're like a kid with a new toy," Chief Harry Rilling said to Holms, the city's D.A.R.E. officer, who breezed in with police lights flashing, sitting behind the wheel of a convertible, top down, open to the sun.
Holms was driving the city's new D.A.R.E. mobile, which did not cost Norwalk a dime. The 1992 Ford Mustang was donated by the city of Fairfield and features a free paint job by Park Way Auto Body, with free detailing from Fleet Auto Supply in New Haven. The Norwalk Exchange club, which donates nearly 700 t-shirts every year for the fifth graders in the D.A.R.E. program, covered other expenses.
D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Norwalk's chapter of the national program started in 1987.
Holm said the vehicle will be good for publicity purposes and will excite the kids at their upcoming graduation ceremony.
"When the kids see it they go bonkers," he said. "They love it, it's good for the public to see."
The city got the car through Holms' personal connection to Fairfield Department Chief Chris Lyddy. Holms grew up in Fairfield and was in the Police Explorer program, of which Lyddy was the advisor.
Comments (8)
lwitherspoon
As you drunk??/What are you rambling about?? This last post of yours is the most bizarre yet..The one thing I did get out of your bizarre post is that you are under some kind of delusional misconception that the Norwalk taxpayers are happy with the NPD..This is quite the contrary as most of Norwalk agrees with me that the NPD is a complete and total failure and needs change from the top down..The only ones that don't are you and the simpleton"rerbc". As far as oldtimer goes being he is retied NPD of course he would support them .
I won't speculate on who Mr Nelson may be, but I will agree TimT"s posts are unintentionally funny. If I were on the police dept, I would be offended, if any of his posts sounded anywhere near credible. If he got any of his information even remotely close to accurate, he might get somebody to believe.
Tim T
I am not fearful of your posts whatsoever--quite the opposite, in fact. As I said in my initial comment, I was looking forward to your post on this subject. The reason I was looking forward to your post is that your posts are always very funny, even though you don't intend them to be.
However you have taken the comedy to a new level by posting as "Mr Nelson". Everyone who has been posting here disagrees with you about the subject of the police, so rather than admit that your criticisms are based on some bizarre personal vendetta, you invented an imaginary friend by the name of Mr Nelson to agree with you so that you wouldn't feel so lonely. LOL
In this case you are criticizing DARE, a program which works to keep kids off drugs. Do you think DARE should be eliminated so that more kids will use drugs, and then you can criticize the NPD for that too?
Tim T:
You make some excellent points excellent
lwitherspoon
Strange how you are so fearful of my posts..I don't hate the NPD..What I hate is the fact that they are a failure...Only a CRIMINAL would be happy with the NPD as they are getting away with crime.
As far as the car goes this is just another waste of money....If they received it for free or not its just another toy that Riling got for his failure of a police department...Can you say insurance, upkeep, liability..Let us not for get the other toys as in the motorcycles, which one was already wrecked and the four wheelers that serves zero purpose and the bike that the cops are to fat to ride, the crime scene van that has help solve zero CRIMES and that electric skateboard thing
WASTE WASTE WASTE
WE NEED CHANGE AT THE NPD FROM THE TOP DOWN
Maybe Rilling should worry more about the killings and shootings ALL UNSOLVED
One good thing about the convertible at least we can all see when the cops are on the cell phones without hands free.
Over the years, the Norwalk Dept has had several unusual cars they used to support the DARE program. Anything that cathches the kid's attention seems to help spread the message. Most were paint jobs on cars forfeited by drug dealers. When I saw the headline, I expected to see an Escalade put to a new good use. If just one young man or woman gets the message, the program is worth the effort. The goal, of course, is for a lot to get the message and avoid drugs.
I agree Iwitherspoon...great they got it at no cost...but I'm sure timt will twist something bad out of this...
Positive in every way. Kudos to the NPD for obtaining this resource without costing the taxpayers a dime, and kudos to all those who contributed in one way or another.
I can't wait to hear how Tim T tries to turn this into a bad thing, since he hates the NPD and to him everything they ever do is wrong.