Det. Wayne French (from left), Sgt. Kevin Nolan, Officer Randy Polion, Det. Keith Clarke, Officer Aieres Medeiros, and Det. Kevin Harris of the Coventry Police Department Honor Guard took to the floor of the TD Banknorth Garden to introduce the Boston Celtics at the start of a recent game.

 By Jessica Selby

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BOSTON — A group of Coventry Police officers recently found themselves at court in Boston.

While it might not be unusual for members of the police department to be at court, this time it was at the TD Banknorth Garden and the Coventry Police Department Honor Guard was sharing the court with the Boston Celtics.

Six of the senior members of the group were invited to usher in the Boston Celtics at the team’s Nov. 12 game against the Atlanta Hawks at the TD Banknorth Garden, according to the department.

Det. Kevin Harris of the Coventry Police Department was a member of the group and was also instrumental in arranging for the appearance. 

He said that it was an honor that has never before been bestowed on the local police department.

“Our honor guard has done the Pawtucket Red Sox games before, but never anything like this on a national level,” Harris said. “It was pretty exciting to have the Coventry Police Honor Guard bringing out the Boston Celtics team.”

The whole thing was initiated from a simple inquiry, Harris said.

“I am a season ticket holder and so I have seen many different departments bring in the team, but, last year, I started inquiring about who gets to do it and how and I learned that every year they have a new guest come in and this year they gave me a call,” Harris said. “They told me that six of us could go up and take to the floor, but one of the guys would have to be a back up.”

It was a pretty amazing experience, Harris said.

“We got to go out on the floor with the world champion Celtics,” Harris said. “This puts our small little hometown department of Coventry in some major spotlight, which I think is pretty fantastic.

“I can’t tell you how many people stopped us from the crowd to say how professional we looked in our uniforms and it was really nice when we were announced in as the Coventry Police Department Honor Guard,” he said. “But what was even better was that we had unlimited access to the players. We got to watch them practice, then they gave us box seats in the halo and the game ended in a buzzer-beating shot by Celtics Paul Pierce which won the game for the team. So, on top of everything, it was an incredible game.”