State Trooper discusses new STARS in community program with students
Provided photo from Orleans/Niagara BOCES: Trooper Corey Harmon visited the Security and Law Enforcement Classes at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center in Medina.
Press Release, Orleans/Niagara BOCES
MEDINA – The Security and Law Enforcement teachers at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center often ask local law enforcement to come in and talk to their students about careers.
Steve Browning and Gene Newman invited State Trooper Corey Harmon in to talk to their junior and senior classes about his story and what it takes to be a New York State Trooper. Student John McGuire says the whole reason he took the Security and Law Enforcement program was because he wants to be a Trooper.
“It was great,” John said about Harmon’s visit. “It was a really informative talk and I learned a lot from it. I found it really interesting when he was telling us what the different parts of the Trooper uniform represents. The color purple represents the Roman Praetorian Guard which represents bravery, honor and integrity, the black stripe represents fallen comrades and the uniform color of grey is woven from black and white which represents neutrality, the line walked between good and evil. I never knew that.”
Classmate Hayley Farewell says listening to Trooper Harmon made her think about a career as a Trooper.
“It was something I had been wondering about and having him in come in to discuss his job made me think it might be a good fit for me,” Hayley said. “It is great being able to talk to different law enforcement officers in class, it’s one of the reasons I love coming here.”
Trooper Harmon also talked to the classes about a program that he created called the NY STARS Throughout the Community. Under this program there is an open invitation for the Troopers to come and speak to the community on whatever topic they would like.
“We have reached out to many schools, community groups, youth groups, churches and other entities within our communities with the goal of generating dialogue and creating a closer relationship with the citizens we serve,” explained Trooper Harmon. “This will hopefully help our community members understand the true nature of our Troopers and law enforcement in general. All too often Police Officers are portrayed as preprogrammed robots incapable of compassion and understanding. The truth is the complete opposite. Police officers are fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, who have taken an oath to serve the citizens of our State. By reaching out to all age groups within our communities, we strive to make this apparent. We ask all community-based group leaders to feel free to contact us should they have any topic or community concern they would like us to come out and talk about.”
John and Hayley both said that speakers like Trooper Harmon and attending BOCES have helped to solidify that they are on the right career path.
“I have been looking forward to coming to the Security and Law Enforcement Program for two years,” student John McGuire said. “It is nice getting out of home school and meeting other students that have similar interests to me. I will definitely be going to college or joining the Marines after graduation with the end goal of becoming a Trooper.”
Hayley said she has similar aspirations.
“I want to go to the University of Florida and then I will be attending the Trooper Academy,” she said.
