File:Cheyenne Weedon from the Frederick News Post, July 26, 2018.jpg

Summary

Brunswick police officers get their own trading cards Brunswick Police Department

Brunswick police officers get their own trading cards

By Hannah Dellinger, Frederick News Post, July 26, 2018 Photos: Dan Gross

In photo: Cheyenne Weedon (9) starts her collection of police cards

Trading cards that the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office issued decades ago with some of its now-retired deputies surfaced at the Brunswick Police Department earlier this year.

Brunswick’s younger police officers were amused by images of the department’s more seasoned staff being featured early in their careers in the sheriff’s office’s card collection, Brunswick Police Chief Milt Frech said. Multiple cards were put up around the station. The joke took off, Frech said, and the staff decided they wanted to create their own trading cards.

The freshly printed cards — featuring 16 officers, including the department’s police dog, Trax — arrived last week. They each have a picture of an officer on one side and a biography of the officer with positive, anti-drug messages written on the back.

The idea is to encourage kids to approach officers they see in the community to collect the different cards, Frech said.

“I think it’s a great way to foster a positive relationship between us and the community,” he said. “Kids are tracking us down and trying to collect all the cards.”

The chief said he’s been “quite surprised” by the quick popularity of the cards, adding that even adults are collecting them.

There were 1,000 copies printed of each officer’s card. The department will likely soon have to print more of Trax’s card, since his are the most in-demand, the chief said.

The cards, part of the department’s ongoing community outreach programs, were funded entirely by asset forfeiture, Frech said.

Frech hopes the young officers who were tickled by the sheriff’s office cards from decades ago will be able to look back on their own years from now and remember the positive interactions they had with the community.

“In later years, I think the young officers will look back on these cards and it will bring back good memories from their careers, just like those of us here retired from the sheriff’s office did,” he said.