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D.A.R.E. program honors Old Bridge's top cop for anti-drug efforts
Home News Tribune - August 2009

Chief Thomas H. Collow, right, receiving his New Jersey DARE Chief of the Year Award. Chief Collow is standing with Nicholas DeMauro, CEO and Chairman of DARE New Jersey

Chief Thomas H. Collow has been honored for his long-standing commitment to youth in the community. The veteran police officer was named 2009D.A.R.E. New Jersey Chief of the Year.

The award was presented by Nicholas R. DeMauro, chairman and CEO of D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) New Jersey, during the Aug. 17 Township Council meeting.

D.A.R.E. is a collaborative program in which local law-enforcement and schools join to teach students how to resist peer pressure and stay away from drugs, alcohol, gangs and violence.

DeMauro said Collow was chosen because of his continued dedication to the program.

"The police chief is the backbone of the D.A.R.E. program," he said. "We look for police chiefs that set the standards that other police chiefs can exemplify and model. Chief Collow, who was the first D.A.R.E. officer in Old Bridge, and really provides the support to the officers and the schools that are needed to provide a comprehensive drug prevention program."

Collow, who was grateful for the award, said it was the work of D.A.R.E. Officer Michael Korygoski, who received the state's 2009 D.A.R.E. Officer of the Year award, along with D.A.R.E Officers Kevin Reck and Pat D'Onofrio, that earned him the recognition.

"They do a great job," Collow said. "They're well-known in the town and they work well with the Municipal Alliance. It's through that cooperation between the police department, the school and the community that I will continue to do the best I can to continue to make the D.A.R.E. program what it is in Old Bridge."

Collow became involved with the program in 1991 when he, along with Officer Paul Salonis, became the township's first D.A.R.E. officers.

"D.A.R.E. was being introduced to all the police departments in Middlesex County and at that time I was asked by police administration if I was interested in becoming a D.A.R.E. officer," he said. "I thought it was a great opportunity."

D.A.R.E., which is offered to fifth graders at the public and parochial schools in the township, provides an important tool to officers, Collow said.

"For most of the students at the fifth grade level, it's the first time they meet a police officer," he said. "I feel it's important that the contact be a positive one."

Collow said the interaction doesn't end there.

"We start at the elementary level and continue the involvement through middle school and high school, where we have school resource officers, as well as additional services that involves the police department," he said. "I think it's important for the police department to maintain that cooperative environment with the educational system. It establishes a relationship between the students and police and that's especially important today.

There's a lot of pressure put on kids - from peer pressure to substance abuse. We live in a fast past environment and there is so much information available to them that I think it's important for the police department to maintain a positive relationship with the kids."

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