The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 23, Number 7 | Page 24

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | September 2017
Wisconsin boy with rare disease sworn in as police officer in New Jersey
beach town
When members of the Wildwood, N.J., community heard that Ethan Kranig, a sick 9-year-old who always wanted
to be a police officer was planning on visiting their beach town, locals pulled out all the stops.
Kranig from Prescott, Wis., who was diagnosed with the rare disease ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia, was
officially sworn in as an honorary police officer with the Wildwood Police Department.
Police Chief Robert Regalbuto gave Kranig the oath of office and was touched by the emotional event.
Regalbuto said he’s seen “nothing like this before … and I’ve been with the department for 28 years.”
A Wildwood resident, Christine Six Brown, helped to coordinate Kranig’s trip, but it was John Lynch, a local who
works with the city’s tourism department and is known for giving back to the community, who spearheaded the
event.
When he heard that Kranig, who would be in the area for follow-up treatments at Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore, wanted to be a police officer, he called up the Wildwood Police Department to see how they could help.
In addition to becoming a police officer, Kranig’s one wish was to visit the ocean for the first time.
Nearby Middle Police Department also wanted to help, so they gave Kranig and his family a police escort straight to
the beach, which made Kranig “ecstatic,” according to Lynch.
And when other local residents heard what was going on, they, too, wanted to help. A sightseeing helicopter
business called up looking to give the Kranigs a free ride. The boardwalk’s iconic Sightseers Tramcars
offered Kranig’s family free tram rides.
“When we as a community can do that, can do something so special, it’s incredible,” Lynch said of the city coming
together for Kranig. “With so much discord going on … this is what America is all about.”
The Wildwood Police Department concluded the ceremony by including Kranig in the force’s yearly staff photograph.
Ethan Kranig is collecting police department patches. Departments interested in sending him a police patch to add to
his collection can visit LunchwithLynch.com.
Report Offers Recommendations for Responding to Sexual Assault Cases
National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach, a new report from the National Institute
of Justice, includes 35 recommendations that were designed to assist medical professionals, law enforcement, victim
advocates, prosecutors and laboratories in implementing coordinated, collaborative and multidisciplinary approaches
to sexual assault investigations.
The recommendations are rooted in a
and increases the potential for legal
storing and analyzing sexual assault
t r a c k i n g
a n d
a u
victim-centric, multi-disciplinary approach that encourages victim engagement
resolutions. They provide a roadmap for collecting, transferring, preserving,
kits to help improve practices and protocols related to evidence inventory,
d i t s ,
a n d
c o m m u n i c a t i o n
s y s t e m s .
To read the report, go to https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250384.pdf.
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