A wise policeman

   Adapted from a story found on Newsela

Photo:  L'Erable

Mr. Fillion is a policeman. He has been a policeman for 3 years. But he is not a typical (ठराविक) policeman. He is the first skateboarding policeman in Canada.

     In June, Mr. Fillion had an idea. He went to a skate park. He got out of his police car. People looked at him. Some of them were afraid (भिऊ).  Was he going to arrest (पकडणे) someone?  No one knew what he was going to do.  Then, he got out his skateboard! Mr. Fillion began doing tricks (युक्ती).  Mr. Fillion loved to skateboard when he was a boy. Sometimes he got into trouble with the police.  Often skateboarders do not trust (विश्वास ठेवणे) the police. And sometimes the police do not trust the skateboarders. Mr. Fillion wanted to change (पालटणे) that. He had an idea. Skateboarding could be a way for children and the police to make friends. The police department agreed to his idea. 

     Mr. Fillion is a policeman in a big city in Canada. It has 8 skate parks. He visits all of them. But Mr. Fillion was afraid the skateboarders would not want him in their parks. He thought they would complain (तक्रार). He thought they would be afraid of him.  But he was wrong. He talked with everyone there. He made friends with them. Mr. Fillion tells the children the story of his own childhood. 

What do you think?  What kind of childhood did Mr. Fillion have?

Photo: La Nouvelle Union

Here is the story Mr. Fillion tells the children.  He stopped studying and then he stopped going to school. He did lots of bad things and got in trouble with the police.  But later, he knew he had made a mistake so he worked hard to live a better life. He went back to school. Then he joined the police force. Finally, he decided (ठरवणे) to use the lessons he learned in his life to help other children. For Mr. Fillion, his work as a policeman is a success. Why?  The children and parents do not see him as a policeman, he said.  They see him as a friend on a skateboard.  They see him as someone who wants to help them.

What did you learn from this story?  
What things do the police do well in your country?
What things do the police not do well?