MARIEMONT — Riley Rogers, 10, doesn't have a complete set of Cincinnati Reds baseball cards. But he has all 11 cards of the officers of the Mariemont Police Department.

        They don't have batting averages or runs batted in. They carry information about each officer on the force: rank, length of service, shift, education and civic activities.

        Riley, a student at Mariemont Elementary School, is one of more than 500 kids involved in a Cop Card program run by the Mariemont Police Department.

        It is a way for children to get acquainted with the Mariemont police officers and gives officers a chance to get to know children in the community, said Lt. Rich Hines, liaison officer for the police and schools.

        To participate in the program, a child must contact each officer to get his card. Once all 11 cards are collected, they are brought to the police station between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

        “We stamp the cards and give them back to the child to keep,” Lt. Hines said. “After cards are stamped, the children's names are entered for a chance to win a monthly prize. Prizes for each month's drawing are provided by various businesses.”

        The names of monthly winners are removed from the drawings, but will be part of the final drawing when the program ends May 30.

        Participation is limited to grades K-8.

        Riley was a winner last month, and he and his family will be treated to a pizza party.

        “I like the program,” Riley said. “You just go up to the officers, introduce yourself and tell him you are in the program and then ask for his card. The only hard part was catching the guys who work night shifts.”

        So hard that Riley's mother, Jane, had to take him to the police station at night to catch the night shift workers.

        “It is a great program,” Mrs. Rogers said. “There is a lot of energy in it. They get to know each other. This might help to go back to the old-fashioned way of policing.”

        Riley is taking his sister, Matisse, 8, around to help her collect cards.

        There will be two grand prizes worth $300 certificates for new bicycles. The final prizes will be donated by Cincinnati Gear Company and Business Intelligence.

        Lt. Hines said there also was a successful Cop Card Program here in 1996.

        “I am a firm believer in community-oriented policing,” he said.

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