St. Charles County Police Department selected as a “Community Policing in Action” photo contest winner

WASHINGTON, D.C.  - The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is pleased to feature the St. Charles County (MO) Police Department as its “Community Policing in Action” photo contest winner for the month of June.

The winning photo, taken last October, features St. Charles County Police Chief David Todd with [then] five-year-old Sydney Coari, who suffers from a rare form of kidney cancer. Coari was the department’s first “Chief for the Day” and had the opportunity to spend the day with Chief Todd, St. Charles County officers, her favorite princess, and the department’s robotic K9.

To read more about her day and the department’s commitment to community policing, visit the Community Policing Dispatch: http://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/06-2016/june_photo_contest_winner.asp. The photo is also featured this month on the COPS Office website, Twitter feed, and Facebook page.

The COPS Office piloted the photo contest last year to highlight positive community policing efforts across the country. After receiving an overwhelming number of submissions, the COPS Office made the photo contest an annual event. This year’s contest garnered more than 300 photos, submitted by more than 200 agencies during the one-month submission period. The COPS Office selected 12 winning photos to feature monthly and announced them in January of this year. To learn more about the photo contest and view the winners, visit http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/photocontest.

The COPS Office, headed by Director Ronald Davis, is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 127,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.