In Chicopee, Massachusetts, you may notice a rather unexpected police vehicle making the rounds: an ice cream truck.
The truck was the brainchild of Officer Travis Odiorne of the Chicopee Police Department.
"One of my main goals was to try to bridge the gap between police work, our department and our community," Odiorne told Fox News Digital in a telephone interview.
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After borrowing an ice cream truck from another police department for a few community events, Odiorne thought Chicopee could benefit from one as well.
Odiorne took the idea of a department ice cream truck to his chief, who thought it was a great idea. They found a used truck on Facebook Marketplace in 2022 and, using money seized through asset forfeiture, were able to fix it up and get it ready for the road.
Once the truck was ready to roll, the Chicopee community stepped in, Odiorne said.
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"Then we got donations from local businesses to wrap the truck and then provide ice cream for kids in the community for free," he said.
The truck now reads, "To protect … and serve ice cream."
Since then, the truck has been to more than 50 events in Chicopee and is often found "patrolling" the city's parks.
"The guys go to the parks. We go to the pools in the summertime, just the kids come out. They love getting free ice cream," Odiorne said.
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At community events, other organizations will often provide ice cream for the Chicopee Police Department, which the officers then distribute to the kids.
This, he said, is "another way for [businesses] to show involvement with the police, the police department, in the community."
The ice cream truck, Odiorne said, helps officers connect with children who might otherwise only associate the department with negativity.
"It's just a way to break down that barrier, to get the kids to come over and interact more with us and realize we're there to help them," he said.
For many children in Chicopee, "they only see [police] when we're coming to their house for a crisis call," Odiorne said. "So to be able to interact with us in a positive way, whether it's walking on the street and seeing us or at the park when the truck comes along, it just allows them to see us out there doing positive things for them."
"We don't always have to be on the negative side when they're calling us," he added.
So far, reception to the ice cream truck has largely been positive, Odiorne said, except from the local ice cream truck man.
"He ends up somehow being on our routes for giving out free ice cream, so, obviously, the kids come to us," Odiorne said with a laugh.
Odiorne thinks other police departments should look into similar ventures.
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The ice cream truck "makes it so police officers are more approachable and [kids] can see us in a different light," he added.
