TORRINGTON – The famous phrase, trick-or-treat, is there on Halloween for a reason. It truly is the one night of the year for everyone of all ages to dress up, head outside and try to have a little fun.

For the most part, Goshen County residents want nothing more than fun and safety on Halloween night. Helping the kids get creative with their costumes, and watching them gather their candy is certainly one of the most fun things parents and community members can experience. 

Every so often though, Halloween is the unofficial night where sometimes the temptation for mischief, or pushing limits a little too far can have consequences that truthfully nobody needs.

After all when we start finding unnecessary trouble, having fun goes right out the window.

Fortunately aside from a few small incidents, Torrington’s Halloween and annual Trunk-or-Treat was a massive, joyful success.

Torrington Police Chief, Matt Johnson, reflected on Halloween night with the Telegram, and was strongly convincing that thanks to a large number of community involvement and cooperation, everything remained fun and safe for the most part.

“It was a relatively busy night with a lot of good stuff,” Johnson began. “You always wish you had twice as many officers as you normally do for Halloween. It’s really just the logistics of getting all the pieces put together, and making sure everyone is safe. We had one incident that started off as a traffic accident, and ended up being a DUI on West C. We had some disturbances on the east side of town, a few citations, a report of some youngsters throwing stuff around Jirdon Park and had another party where there was some underage drinking.”

Aside from a few minor incidents where no one was injured, Johnson moved on to the success, as well as the large numbers of Torrington’s annual, Trunk-or-Treat.

“The good news is that it was awesome,” Johnson proclaimed. “What a fun opportunity for people to get together and show kids that we care about them. We had a lot of fun, and did it in a very safe, cool, laid back kind of way. It’s an event we look forward to every year. The turnout was huge. I think we actually handed out between 700 and 800 bags! There were a lot of good people, and it really showed.”

Aside from the TPD having a major hand in helping with the massive event, Johnson also expressed sincere gratitude towards other Torrington emergency personnel, as well as the large sense of community dedication.

“We are super grateful to our fire department,” Johnson stated. “We have such a good relationship with them, and they had their team members helping us hand out bags. They are just a great group of people that really put their time in for this community, and also for Goshen. Any time we can bring people together is very good for our community. It’s such a blessing to be a part of, and that’s very positive. Halloween always has some bumps. When you focus on bringing people together with positive outlets, you see far fewer bumps. It puts you in a place where you try to be proactive rather than reactive.”

Chief Johnson continued noting how crucial it is for police officers and other emergency personnel to stay engaged and active with community events such as Trunk-or-Treat. According to Johnson, it is events like these that provide the perfect opportunity for both emergency departments, and community members to get together and build a little trust.

“I’d have to say building relationships with the kids matters more than anything else we did. When you look that notion of proactive policing, a lot of that is a certain amount of talking to people and letting folks get to know you. When we plan ahead years into the future in having a safe community, you start that today by building relationships with the kids. It makes all the difference in the world, and we have seen huge returns on that. We have a very high-quality student resource officer building those relationships right now. Also having those partnerships with the school district is so powerful when we need to figure out bad situations.”

With what could be considered spikes in violence and shootings in the country and around world in recent weeks, Johnson continued the explanation that with unity among community members and law-enforcement officers, the chances of Torrington becoming a target of such violence is tremendously reduced.

“If you wait until something bad happens you will always be behind,” Johnson said. “There is a certain amount of that that we can’t get rid of, but when we come together the better off we are. Looking around the world right now, big events are being targeted and are at a higher risk now than they have ever been. We need to be making wise choices, plan ahead and build systems that keep people safe. Of course we have to do the best we can with the resources we have, and make events like Trunk-or-Treat a safe night for families to come out and enjoy themselves.”

Now with the end of year holiday season in sight, Chief Johnson made it a valuable point to persuade residents to continue having fun throughout Thanksgiving and New Year’s, but to remain safe, responsible and mindful of others.

According to Johnson and the TPD, the holidays can be the perfect time for predators to move in while residents have their guard down. With this, the Chief had a realistic warning for all community members as the holiday season fast approaches.

“I think that we all need to be aware this holiday season,” Johnson explained. “While it’s a time of great joy, healing and caring, it is also a time when bad people pray upon us with scams, fraud and theft; those type of things. It’s very easy for all of us to become trapped into that, even in the regular time of year. When you look at holidays with people having more opportunities to commit these acts, the risk increases and we need to pay attention. 

“Something else is substance use. Holiday season tends to be a time when people consume more alcohol, and also when folks consume illegal drugs. We need to be acutely aware of the risks all over the place. Unfortunately the ones that are impacted most are innocent people driving home with their families, and are hit by a driver under the influence. That’s something we really ask for awareness about and to plan ahead with. If you wait until the night of the Christmas party to figure out how to get home safe, it’s probably not going to work out for you. If you want to celebrate responsibly, it’s your responsibility to figure out how to get home safely. If that’s not possible, you shouldn’t be putting alcohol in your body.”

With a safe Halloween in the bag without anything major and the excitement of the holidays on the horizon, Chief Johnson had some simple words of closure shortly before returning to daily responsibilities as police chief.

“We are so fortunate to live in the community that we live in,” Johnson said. “When we look at things going on in the country and around the world, we truly need to celebrate the fact that this is a community that cares about each other, and shares an interest in each other. It’s not perfect, but we all need to be giving as much as we receive. That is something to focus on and celebrate this holiday season.”

For further questions or information regarding TPD, feel free to call 307-532-7001.