Hillsdale Police participate in No Shave November to raise money to fight child abuse

Home City News Hillsdale Police participate in No Shave November to raise money to fight child abuse
Hillsdale Police participate in No Shave November to raise money to fight child abuse

 

Officer Corey Dow, right, and Sgt. Steve Pratt, left, display their beards, part of the department’s observance of No Shave November. Julie Havlak | Collegian
Officer Corey Dow, right, and
Sgt. Steve Pratt, left, display
their beards, part of the department’s
observance of No
Shave November.
Julie Havlak | Collegian

By not shaving this November, Hillsdale County’s police department will raise money and awareness for Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness in Hillsdale County.

The department’s policy about grooming prohibited officers from growing facial hair, but during the month of November officers can grow a beard by donating $25 to CAPA.

This year’s No Shave November raised $225, $50 more than last year. Police plan to double the sum by donating it to CAPA on the ‘great give day,’ in which the Hillsdale County Community Foundation will match nonprofit donations, Police Chief and CAPA director Scott Hephner said.

The department’s union body chose to donate the funds raised by No Shave November to CAPA, said Hephner. The police department has had a close partnership with CAPA for a number of years, according to Sgt. Steve Pratt, who called CAPA “our department pet project.”  

“I really believe [CAPA] is an organization that needs to be in the spotlight,” Pratt said. “This is a truly awesome program. They do a lot of good for our community, and they are largely unsung.”

No Shave November, which Detective Bradley Martin described as “a way to donate money to a good cause and [a way] to keep the whiskers,” yielded a mixed assortment of beards. Some officers donated but kept shaving, while others tried to grow their whiskers, according to Pratt, who grew a goatee.

“My guys asked me to. Every year [they] give me a hard time because I’ve got grey hair and I’m old, so they all like me to look like Santa Claus,” Pratt said. “It’s for a good cause, and we all get to look shaggy for a month.”

The donations raised by No Shave November will likely go into one of two CAPA programs — the Baby Think It Over program or the Safe Sleep program, according to executive director of CAPA Christie Campbell.

The $450 raised by the police department could fund the purchase of 20 to 25 Safe Sleep halo sacks, which the CAPA would then give to newborns born in Hillsdale County’s maternity ward. The sacks, which resembled pajamas, prevented crib suffocation by blankets, Campbell said.

Alternatively, the donation could cover roughly half the cost of a simulated baby, a robotic replica of a baby that costs up to $1000 each, Hephner said.  Over the 2016-17 school year, CAPA will coordinate with local high schools to give up to 200 students the opportunity to care for the simulated baby, Campbell said.

“The kids are always very excited when I come into the classroom with these babies because they are as lifelike as you can make a simulated baby. The kids think it is going to be easy, and they find out it is not,” Campbell said. “It’s helping teach them ways to cope with a parenting situation. But they are usually very excited for me to take the babies back.”

Campbell hoped that the time spent with the simulated babies would help reduce shaken baby syndrome, a form of child abuse caused by severely shaking a child. It can cause either permanent brain damage or death, according to the New York Times Health Guide. There are an estimated 1,300 cases in the US each year, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.

Officer Corey Dow said CAPA was a great cause and “children are getting abused, we deal with that all the time.” Dow speculated that the loss of industry in Hillsdale may have increased the emotional or physical abuse of children.

“When there’s economic frustration for people who live in the area, that bleeds into other aspects of living. And then the frustration boils over,” Dow said. “And I think that it is common for people to take out their frustration on the people that they love. I know that sounds twisted, but it’s the truth. It’s what we see a lot.”

The main donation that came from No Shave November was not the money, Dow said. It was the awareness raised by the oddity of bearded policemen, which sparked over 50 conversations about CAPA by Nov. 14.  Dow hoped that this word of mouth would cast the spotlight on CAPA that Pratt hoped for.

“Nobody likes to talk about child abuse. It’s not a fun topic. But I hope that down the road this is helping them to be better parents and to realize that it’s okay to ask for help,” Campbell said. “This is a continuous journey. Every little bit helps…It’s great to work with the police department because they are seeing this firsthand. It’s so great to have their support to get out there and help our community be better.”