Officer to read at Barnes & Noble

Ben Godar

A Burbank Police officer who will to read to children today at Barnes

& Noble Booksellers hopes they look at police as their friends.

Officer Tony Faggiano of the Juvenile Bureau will read “Police

Officers” by Paulette Bourgeois at 11 a.m. The story explains the

various tasks police officers do and presents children with a series

of safety tips.

The most important safety tip for children to remember is what to

do when approached by a stranger, Faggiano said. Despite the number

of times they have heard the message, he said many children still

think dangerous strangers will always look like bad people.

“I try to communicate to them that these people could look like

very nice people,” he said.

Today’s event goes hand-in-hand with programs like DARE, in which

Faggiano said officers are trying to gain the trust of young people.

Unless children meet real police officers, he said their image of

police is formed primarily by the sometimes negative images they see

on television.

“The majority have positive feelings toward police, but a few are

a little afraid,” he said. “I try to get down to their level and talk

to them as if I was talking to one of my own kids.”

Barnes & Noble Booksellers is at 731 N. San Fernando Blvd. For

more information, call 558-1383.