Community engagement takes center ice at inaugural Skate With A Cop event

LACONIA — The inaugural “Skate With A Cop” event, organized in large part by Belmont Police Officer Syntia Somogyi, brought more than 100 community members to Merrill Fay Arena Saturday. Skaters of all ages gathered there to meet with Belmont police officers and firefighters to spend an afternoon skating around the ice rink. 

First responders from Belmont banded together to offer the community event, organized around the time-old New England tradition — strapping on skates and gliding across the ice. Surprise guest Bolo, the mascot for the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office, also made an appearance.

Belmont police officers sold department challenge coins during the event — metal pieces which commemorate the police department — and BPD-branded hockey pucks finished with their logo on the top side. Proceeds from those sales were set to benefit the department’s police association and fund other community events in the future. 

Somogyi, who was the driving force behind organizing the community engagement event, said she’d like to set up more opportunities for officers to interface with the public, like a potential movie event this summer. 

“It’s a community event just to get the force out there and introduce them in a fun way,” Somogyi said before the event started, noting she hoped other departments would make their way down to the arena to participate as well.

“This is our first time.” 

Lt. Evan Boulanger was the first officer to arrive, parking his cruiser in front of the entrance and flashing his emergency lights in a show of festivity. Slowly but surely, scores, then dozens and then upwards of 100 people filed in through the doors and onto the ice.

Officers expressed gratitude to Merrill Fay Arena for allowing them to hold the event there. 

The first to strap skates on and hit the rink was 14-year old Austin Parent, a hockey player himself. He’s a goalie and will be in his first year at Belmont High School next year. Despite tending goal, he’s a quick skater and was already several laps — and one water break — into the event by the time other community members got started. 

Belmont firefighter Kyle Moore, wearing a bright red department sweater and a thick beanie, set his son Liam over a couple of milk crates and skated him around the rink, the child’s feet not quite touching the ice due to his height. 

Among the ranks of the Belmont Police Department are a handful of passionate hockey players, Boulanger explained. Somogyi proposed the idea a few weeks ago, and Boulanger agreed, offering the department’s support if she was able to bring the event together. 

“Yesterday’s turnout of well over 100 people of all ages proved she more than succeeded,” he said Sunday in an email. 

The main point of organizing the event was to communicate that, while officers look different while in uniform, they’re still members of the community, just like everybody else. 

“The inaugural Skate with a Cop was about building connections outside of the difficult circumstances in which first responders often meet people,” Boulanger explained. “Events like this can make a real difference — whether by establishing trust with a child who has experienced trauma, helping to de-escalate a future situation, or simply creating a moment of joy. And for our officers, it was an experience that left us all smiling.”