Fair Lawn 'Cop Cards' Are Back

FAIR LAWN — Fair Lawn Police unveiled its newest edition of the department’s “Cop Cards” collection during a special event Monday evening.

Officers from the force handed out the new cards – along with free ice cream – to local youngsters at the Carvel on River Road.

For the next several months, kids are being encouraged to collect all 75 cards in order to be eligible to win a prize, such as a pizza party with the police force, an “age appropriate” computer tablet or a bicycle.

But, more importantly, Police Chief Glen Cauwels said children will also forge a bond with officers in Fair Lawn.

“By meeting the officers at events and on the street, the kids get to see officers on a more human level as they work their way to collecting the entire set of cards,” Cauwels said. “The program is also geared to have the children interact with each other as they work to complete the set by trading for cards that they need.”

Trading cards are available at Fair Lawn Police Department (8-01 Fair Lawn Avenue) and will also be distributed to kids at special events, such as National Night Out at Memorial Park on Aug. 6.

Kids who get their hands the entire collection are eligible to enter a drawing to win prizes. Participants will have until Dec. 4 to collect all cards in the series and fill out a slip to enter the drawing. The contest is open to children who are entering Kindergarten through fifth grade at Fair Lawn schools.

The department will also be posting on its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts additional locations where the cards can be found.

Fair Lawn was one of the first departments in the state to launch a cop card program back in 1998. Since then there have been two sets released – the Millennium collection in 2000 and the 75thanniversary edition in 2006.

Within Bergen County, a few other police departments now offer trading card collections, such as Washington Township and Emerson.

The trading card program is just one of its community outreach efforts by the department. Other community policing initiatives include: a new ride-along program, a junior police academy, a citizen police academy and “Coffee With A Cop.”