Algonquin Police Officer Kim Frasier spends most of her time helping to ensure that area youths do not trip and fall into any of the traps that face them daily.
Soon, Frasier will be taking a trip of her own, to Birmingham, England. She has been chosen from among more than 500,000 female police officers worldwide to accept the International Association for Women in Police award for community service. The award will be presented Sept. 1.
The awards have five categories: leadership, mentoring, excellence in performance, medal of valor and community service. Algonquin Police Chief Russ Laine sent in an application to the Illinois chapter of the association and from there it was forwarded to the international office.
Frasier is in her sixth year as a police officer following 12 years as a police dispatcher. She also is a paid, on-call firefighter and emergency medical technician for the Algonquin Fire Department.
Though Frasier’s hours on street patrol are limited these days, her role in the community is just as,if not more, important. She is the community’s crime prevention and Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer.
As the D.A.R.E. officer, Frasier teaches a 16-week course to area 5th graders about drugs, violence, abuse and self-esteem. She talks about why people join gangs and why they should not.
“I tell the kids that (gang members) don’t really care about you,” she said. “They take your rights away by telling you what you can wear, who you can hang around with and what you can do. You can’t get out (of the gangs) easily, and the gang puts not only yourself, but your friends and your family in danger.”
Frasier thinks it is important for the children to see a police officer in a positive light, not as someone who is only associated with a negative situation.
“I wanted to be a police officer my whole life,” Frasier said. “When I was dispatching, I saw how cops were thought of. I would hear parents tell their kids, `You better be good, or (a police officer) is going to take you away.’ Those kids will never look to us for help.
“I eat lunch (with the kids) and play at recess, so they know I’m human too. Sometimes, I don’t even wear my uniform.”
One incident that stands out for her concerns a 10-year-old girl who had lost all of her possessions when her family’s house burned down. Frasier led a drive to raise money for the girl, then took her on a shopping spree to replace her lost possessions.
“We raised around $500, and, when we pulled up in front of the toy store, her jaw just dropped,” Frasier said.
Frasier would like to continue doing that type of work.
“If something happened to me today, my family knows that I’ve lived my life the way I’ve wanted to,” Frasier said.
