classrooms in Upper Darby during the school year. During the visits, officers and students discuss positive attitudes and being safe. The program has been adopted by several other police departments in Delaware County. Through this mentoring program police officers and students get to know and respect each other, Lt. Reif says. For example, if he’s called to a dispute among children, he’s often not a stranger. He tells them straight-out, “I expect more from you.” “We [the officers] are able to match names to faces,” Lt. Reif says. “This has been a real plus in creating a mutual respect.” The relationships continue well past fifth grade. When he sees students again later, he can ask them about their report cards or what they’ve been up to. He recently saw two girls from his first mentoring group who had been having issues in fifth grade. They’re now juniors in high school. They told him that the program prompted them to get themselves together. “The best thing is that they are now talking about going to college,” Lt. Reif says. For his work, Lt. Reif recently was inducted into the Upper Darby High School Wall of Fame. It’s an honor bestowed on graduates of the school who have made a mark in their profession. Lt. Reif offered this advice to kids: “It is easy to do the right thing when everybody’s watching. You’ve got to do the right thing when nobody is watching.” —By Joshua Charles, Ummayh Siddiqua, Jasnoor Singh, and Sarah Wusinich Highland Park Healthy Hawk 21 Illustration by Amaya Bankowski, Eisenhower Healthy Panther