OFFICER CATHI FINDS THE RIGHT PATH TEACHING DARE

2004 Extraordinary Service Award Winner For Groton

GROTON -- The path to becoming a hero is not always obvious nor straight
and narrow. Often, there can be many twists and turns along the way, and
where one ends up is not always what was expected nor planned for.

Such was the case for Groton police Sgt. Cathi Glejzer, one of this year's
recipients of Nashoba Publishing's Extraordinary Service Awards given for
outstanding performance in the emergency services field. She was nominated
by Groton Police Chief Robert Mulhern because of her work as the
department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officer, shift
supervisor and sex-crime investigator.

"Her enthusiasm hasn't changed," Mulhern said of Glejzer's DARE service.
"She is as dedicated now as in her first year, and you can see that in
her...relationships with teachers, principals and students."

Because of all her responsibilities, Glejzer's "hands are full, and she
does a good job in all of her jobs," he added. "In Groton, people know it.
She refers to herself as Sgt. Cathi. Her work in this area has been
outstanding, and it's time for her to get well-deserved recognition."

According to Glejzer, becoming a police officer, if not the farthest thing
from her mind, was at least not necessarily on her radar screen after
receiving her bachelor of arts degree in psychology from Clark University.

"I was doing drug and alcohol counseling for the Waltham Police Department,
and then just being around police officers, I became interested in the
field," explained Glejzer, who had thought about a career in teaching.

"I had originally been interested in teaching for the elementary grades
when I decided to take the civil service exam in 1995," she said. "I scored
well and was offered a part-time, then a full-time position with the Groton
Police Department."

The offer turned out to be serendipitous in more than one way: Not only did
it allow Glejzer to serve in the town where she was born and raised, it
would eventually lead her back to the elementary classrooms she had once
considered entering as a teacher.

After Glejzer, 34, passed the civil service exam, she attended the Lowell
Police Academy in 1997 and was promoted to sergeant the next year. Later,
she earned a master's degree in criminal justice administration from
Western New England College.

Almost immediately upon joining the Groton force eight years ago, Glejzer,
who is also a mother, was asked if she was interested in taking over the
town's DARE program, an ongoing effort to give young people the information
they need in order to make informed decisions about controlled substances.

"They offered it to me right from the start, and for me, it's been the best
of all possible worlds," she said. "While I was able to be in law
enforcement, I got to fulfill my teaching aspirations too."

The combination of the two professions proved to be a perfect fit for
Glejzer who, as part of her duties with the DARE program, teaches
fifth-graders in both Groton and Dunstable about the dangers of drugs and
alcohol.

She said it was important to teach children in those grades about the
dangers of alcohol and drug abuse because at 10 years old, they were
entering the time of their lives where they are the most susceptible to
outside influences from peer pressure to media popularization of controlled
substances.

"Meeting the kids in school is very beneficial when I'm out on patrol,
where I often run into them and sometimes meet their parents," Glejzer
said. "The kids feel more comfortable when they see me and that makes a big
difference."

"Working in the DARE program has just been so fulfilling," she added. "A
number of times, I've met kids I taught in the fifth grade after they were
in high school, and they've told me how they've often thought about what
they learned in the DARE program and how it made a difference in the
decisions they made involving drugs and alcohol."

In addition to her duties with the DARE program, Glejzer is also her
department's supervisor of community policing. She is in charge of public
tours of the police station and boat patrols as well as arranging duty
schedules and other administrative functions.

And when she's not working, Glejzer is busy with such activities as
starting up an informal running club at the Police Department and "just
spending time with my daughter."

"It's wonderful," she said about her career with the Groton Police
Department, adding that her fellow officers are a "tight group" and "great
to work with." "I couldn't ask for a better job," Glejzer said, "especially
working for a town like Groton, which is such a welcoming town. I feel
proud to that I'm able to 'serve and protect' the people in this community."

Glejzer will be honored with the Extraordinary Service Award at a banquet
and ceremony at the Townsend Ridge Country Club tomorrow night.