At a recent ceremony conducted on BOCES' main campus, students raised the first walls of what will soon become a police station playhouse and full-sized garage for display at the Discovery Center Story Garden in Binghamton. The garage will house the police cruiser used by Officer Smith, which was recently decomissioned by the Johnson City Police Department and donated to the story garden project. The vehicle is currently being overhauled by students at Morrisville College's automotive department.
The new exhibit, expected to open to the public in May, is a result of a community partnership between Broome-Tioga BOCES, The Discovery Center and the Johnson City Police Department. Engineering students in BOCES P-TECH program designed the structures. Students in the carpentry program are building the structures. Art students in BOCES Evertech High School will appliy the paint and other finishing touches.
Asked about donating the car for the exhibit, Johnson City Police Chief Brent Dodge said, "It was just a piece of him we weren't ready to let go of."
Officer Smith was killed in the line of duty in March 2014.
Photos: Wallraising March 11, 2020