Abington Township, PA selected as “Community Policing in Action” photo contest winner for the month of October

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

The winning photo features Officer Roger Gillispie with a young boy dressed as Batman during Abington Township’s Fall Festival last October. The festival, which is a collaboration between the Abington Township business community and the C.A.P.T. (Citizens and Police Together), draws thousands of youth and their parents together to trick-or-treat in a safe environment. The youth not only get to wear their costumes and grab candy, but they also get to interact with Abington Township public safety personnel.

See the photo on the COPS Office website, Twitter, and Facebook, and read the corresponding article in the COPS Office e-newsletter, the Community Policing Dispatch (photo courtesy of the Abington Township Police Department).

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.

The COPS Office is currently accepting photo contest submissions for the 2017 calendar year. To learn more, 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 129,000 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.