For Officer Kevin Reen and the Swampscott Police Department, it isn’t just about policing — it’s about making a connection with the community.
Since he was a kid, Reen knew he wanted to wear a uniform that stood for protecting and serving; he just wasn’t sure which one.
“I was enamored with first responders in the military. As a child, my father worked for the court system. He was a court officer, and I always saw him in uniform,” Reen said.
He would join his father at the courthouse and shadow him when he was young. There, he would see officers in uniform coming and going.
“Every time I interacted with a police officer, I was met with somebody outgoing, nice, professional. So, as much as the enigma of the presentation of the uniform was intimidating, it was also intriguing,” he said.
In high school, Reen felt he had a knack for helping people and solving problems. During those years, he thought, “Oh, you know what? Maybe I could be a police officer.”
With a deep interest in the military, Reen attended Norwich University, a private military institution, as an undergraduate and studied history and international affairs.
— Officer Kevin Reen
One of the previous officers said to me, ‘You know you’re doing something right when the kids look beyond the uniform and remember the person. They don’t see me as Officer Reen.
“That’s where I really developed my sense of service. The school was founded on civilian service, leadership, and the development of becoming an officer in the military,” he said. “When I graduated, I was able to join the workforce right away and became a police officer shortly after graduation.”
Reen’s policing journey started at Boston University. His second day as an academy graduate was Sept. 11, 2001.
“Everything was normal, or as normal as I thought it was going to be. And then my second day was 9/11. That was a wake-up call,” Reen said.
He remembered his college friends — those going into the military and those who weren’t — and how they all realized that life was about to get real.
“They’re going off to war, we’re at home, and we just got attacked. It was very surreal. I was a 24-year-old kid fresh out of the police academy,” he said.
During his time at BU, he took part in community policing.
“It was impressed upon the officers to get out and engage with the community. There’s no better way to let the community know who you are than to just put yourselves into their environment,” he said.
In 2008, Reen joined the Swampscott Police Department, where community policing was once again a major part of the job. What really got Reen involved was coaching his two sons.
“There had been a tradition with a lot of the Swampscott Police officers before me. The guys that lived in town would coach a lot of their children. So, as my boys got to the age of participating in youth sports, it kind of just worked,” he said.
Reen explained that becoming a coach helped him connect more with his community. When people saw him, he wasn’t just Kevin Reen or Officer Reen — he was Coach Kevin.
“Even now, when I’m in uniform, and I’m working on a shift, and I’m interacting with people, I’ll show up to practice that I was supposed to be coaching, but I had to work, just to say, ‘Hey guys, how you doing?’” he said.
The kids would come running over to say hi, calling him Coach Kevin even when he was in uniform.
“One of the previous officers said to me, ‘You know you’re doing something right when the kids look beyond the uniform and remember the person.’ They don’t see me as Officer Reen,” he said.
Reen understood that he was lucky to build this trust with the kids at such a young age and show them that he wasn’t just a guy with a badge — he was a member of the community that they could trust.
“Now, if there was something that they really needed, if there was an emergency or if I got called to something, they see Coach Kevin, not Officer Reen,” he said. “Yet, I’m in my capacity as a professional police officer, and I can respond with my resources. They have that trust in me already that Coach Kevin is here, and he’s going to help.”
Reen and his fellow officers have done their best to show up where it matters most for the town. They attend football games, other sporting events, farmers markets, and graduations. They also attend events at different churches, such as the Shirat Hayem, Chabad, and First Church.
“We have a personality that’s behind our vest. We’re people that people in the community develop trust with…I can thank my kids for wanting to play sports and that first person who asked me to help coaching,” he said.
Reen detailed the ways Swampscott officers interact with the community, including the Citizens Youth Academy. He credited his brother, Sgt. Brendan Reen, and Officer Brian Wilson, who started the program with him.
“We bring kids into this atmosphere and show them the intricacies of what policing right now really is. We get to show them what the court system looks like. We introduce them to the District Attorney’s Office,” Reen said.
The kids talk to different attorneys, learn what the clerks do, and how they process the court aspect of the Commonwealth. There is also a police academy setting where kids learn about the nuances of being an officer.
“We also do a lot of work with opioid addiction. We’re trying to educate the community about how much of an impact that’s had…We have a mental health task force team that works specifically with a community of clinicians,” he explained.
Their goal is to get the right treatment and care to residents who need it.
“When we get called, it’s not because they want to invite us over for their best moment. Oftentimes, we’re getting called for their most difficult moment,” Reen said.
This again leads back to the trust the officers have built with the community. They want to create a space to provide proper resources, help, and offer a different direction.
Wilson, the school resource officer, and Reen have also worked in the school system.
“It’s just to show we’re regular people,” he said.
Wilson is also the owner of Sora, his canine.
“She’s a comfort dog and tracking dog. She takes the cake no matter where you go. You show up, and Sora’s there. Everyone goes to Sora because they just want to see her. But again, it’s another icebreaker. The kids go to the dog, and she’s not going to talk back, so they ask us questions instead,” Reen said.
The police have also held multiple drives to collect toys for local kids and participate in events such as the holiday parade.
When asked how it feels to serve his community, he had a simple list of words: “Successful, happy, restorative, proud, challenged. All of those words come to mind. The evolution of policing is never going to stop… Policing can’t be cookie-cutter… We as officers need to continue to study, learn, communicate, listen, and interact because that’s the only way that we’re going to get a real education of what the community is asking for.”
To put into simpler terms, Reen said, “Show up… It’s through action, not words.”
