Westbrook police are defending an officer’s decision last week to bring a 7-year-old girl to the police station after she had been without an adult for more than an hour in Riverbank Park, but the girl’s mother denies that her daughter was in any danger.

The mother, Nicole Jensen, received a summons for endangering the welfare of a child. She is disputing the charges and has spoken publicly against the police action. She said her child is now afraid of police.

This week, both Jensen and police officials told their side of the June 24 incident.

Police officials say their response is part of the department’s added focus on youth during the summer months, when children are not in school.

Police say the girl, Brooklynn Jensen, had been playing in the park alone when they received a 911 call. Westbrook Police Chief Janine Roberts said Wednesday that there were two women in the park who observed the child for at least an hour, stating that she was there alone.

“It’s suspected that it was probably longer than that,” Roberts said.

She said when officers arrived, they were on scene for roughly 20 minutes, but no parent arrived, and no other parents in the park vouched for the little girl.

Roberts said bringing a child to the police station while attempting to locate a responsible adult is one option available to officers.

“Each situation is handled individually,” she said.

During the summer, she said, the department has the school resource officer assigned to duties connected with youth.

“Our patrol officers are often engaged in pro-active contacts with youth, as well,” she said.

Jensen said Monday she just recently began allowing her daughter to play in the park by herself, but that most of the time, she, her husband or her 12-year-old son is also with her.

The family lives in a second-floor apartment on Dunn Street, along the far edge of the park. Jensen said that from the porch and the apartment windows, she keeps an eye on Brooklynn, and also trusts many of the other parents who are regulars at the park.

“The other parents know each other pretty well, and we keep an eye on each other’s kids,” she said. “I can see to the park directly through every window.”

Jensen added that she asks her children to wear bright colors so they’re easier to spot. At the apartment building Monday, she said if she can’t spot her kids, she walks down to the edge of the park grass, which provides a clear line of sight to the playground. She said her kids are allowed in the field and playground only.

“There has been no issue until now,” she said. “I don’t understand why they didn’t just walk her home.”

Jensen said that when she left Brooklynn at the park, the child was with a fellow parent and her two sons.

Brooklynn said Monday that she has a lot of friends from school who also frequent the park.

Joseph Nicolantonio, the stepfather of Jensen’s children, said that he routinely brings the kids to the park, and that they had just begun allowing them to enter the park on their own.

“We’re right here, and this was a new thing we had just started. We know most of the people there,” he said.

“The decision was made to take the child to the police station,” Roberts said Wednesday, adding that the police attempted to call Jensen’s cell phone, which was not answered.

Jensen said the police “lied” about calling her, stating that her phone never rang. She also said her daughter was terrified by the incident.

“Why does she even need to leave? She’s playing at the playground. It’s a park for kids, and she was never alone,” she said.

Roberts also disputes the argument that Brooklynn was scared by the police.

“The information that I have is that the daughter was happy and engaged,” she said.

Roberts said the child was given a tour of the police station by a female officer.

“She didn’t appear to us to be terrified or upset in any manner,” she said.

Eventually, Roberts said, police were able to get a hold of Jensen, who arrived at the station and was given a police summons.

Jensen said that bystanders in the park told her that the officer, Phil Robinson, was using the police K-9 Roxy to “intimidate” people in the park.

Roberts said Roxy would have been in the car, possibly barking, but that Robinson was not using the dog to scare people.

Robinson did not return an email seeking comment by the American Journal’s deadline Wednesday.

Jensen said she believes the police singled out her daughter because of Jensen’s involvement in a national educational movement whose goal is to raise awareness of police brutality and abuses of power.

On the police department’s arrest log for last week, Jensen’s charges also include violating condition of release. Jensen said she was charged with assault in May, but that those charges were dropped.

Police said the case has been referred to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Jensen said she intends to fight any charges in court.

Nicole Jensen and her daughter, Brooklynn Jensen, 7, stand at the far edge of Riverbank Park along Dunn Street in Westbrook Monday. Jensen said she uses that spot near her house to check on her children at the park playground, visible in back. Staff photo by Andrew Rice

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