Milford Police Officer Builds Community Ties On Patrol

MILFORD, MA — Police Officer Kevin O'Loughlin was on his normal evening patrol on Monday along West Maple Street and Luby Avenue when he saw a group of children waving to him. It was a nice day out, so he decided to pull over and chat with them. Officer O'Loughlin was quickly swarmed as the children asked plenty of questions about topics ranging from his uniform to car equipment.

"It seems like every time I'm up there, they're there, so I decided to stop," O'Loughlin said.

The first thing the kids wanted to see was, of course, the lights and siren on his cruiser.

"I put the blue lights on for them and blew the siren," he said. A neighbor watching from across the street, Ashley Wokoun, said the kids faces lit up.

"I watched the whole time while I was cooking dinner and it just touched my heart so much," Wokoun said.

She was so touched she snapped pictures of the interaction and sent a message to the department's Facebook page. Another resident who witnessed the interaction did the same.

Wokoun noted that the Luby Avenue area sees lots of police officers and can get a bad reputation.

"Most of these children on this street associate police with something bad about to happen," she said in her message. "It warms my heart that this officer ... saw children playing outside and decided to engage with them."

Officer O'Loughlin said interacting with children and adults on the street is the best way to get to know the community.

"We want them to know, hey, it's okay to come up to us and talk — we're not big and bad," he said, noting that some of the youth in the area can be standoffish, having only seen arrests or negative police interaction in the neighborhood.

The children who surrounded him were between the ages three to 13.

"They had about a million questions," O'Loughlin said, and he was happy to answer, explaining the uses for his taser, gun and car. "I'll definitely be out there more with them now that its nicer out."

If the officer's name sounds familiar it's because he's the son of police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin, who couldn't be prouder.

"He's a good boy," Chief O'Loughlin said.

His son just started in the department two years ago after serving in the Westborough Police Department. "I wanted to make a difference in the community I grew up in," Officer O'Loughlin said, adding that his father had a big influence on his career path.

ALSO READ:

• Police Focus On Schools and Hospital Safety: Chief
• Milford Resident, Pillow-Fighting Firefighter Is Back at It