Freeport police officers devise a high-profile Special Olympics fundraiser.

Nathan Leger, a Freeport police officer, has run in Special Olympics fundraisers while serving in the Coast Guard, and later with the Rockland Police Department. Sgt. John Perrino has a connection with the Special Olympics that dates back many years.

Now, Leger, Perrino and Officer Keith Norris will parlay their concern for children and adults with intellectual disabilities in a type of fundraiser sure to catch people’s attention – right in the middle of Freeport. The event, on Friday, Sept. 4, is called “Cop on Top.” Leger and Norris will climb onto the roof of the L.L. Bean Flagship Store while Perrino, on the ground near the famous Bean Boot, will talk to the public about the good works of Special Olympics Maine. The officers plan to have a standard-size Bean boot as the receptacle for donated cash or checks. Perrino will be accompanied by a Special Olympics official and athlete. One the boot is full of money, Leger and Norris will reel the boot up to the roof with a rope, empty it and send it back down.

All money donated during the event will benefit Special Olympics Maine athletes directly.

Leger, who hatched the idea, said he has a “ballpark figure” in mind as a fundraising goal he declined to reveal.

Leger and Norris will be up on the roof from 9 a.m. until midnight.

“I can’t wait,” Leger said. “One thing I love about this job is I have the opportunity to change lives in a positive way. And also, in this day and age, with the view some people have of law enforcement, I can use this as an opportunity to shed a positive light. I get to use this uniform and my career to do good.”

Though police officers in Maine are prohibited from soliciting funds, there is a provision allowing them to do so on behalf of Special Olympics athletes. Officers in Freeport have raised funds for Special Olympics Maine for 31 years, and last year they raised more than $3,441 in the Torch Run, in which police officers run from town line to town line with the “Flame of Hope” to the opening ceremonies of local Special Olympics Maine competitions.

Leger proposed the idea of “Cop on Top” after he heard about it from other police agencies. He connected with copsontop.com to devise the idea, and L.L. Bean cooperated.

“L.L. Bean has generously agreed to have the officers on the upstairs porch of the flagship store above the patio near the Bean Boot,” Sgt. Susan Nourse said in a press release.

Leger said that Special Olympics athletes make it easy to feel the love.

“Every time I interact with an athlete at Special Olympics, they forget about their disability,” he said. “It’s so cool.”

Leger is confident that the event will succeed.

“How many people look up and see police officers on a roof?” he asked. “They’re going to say, ‘What’s going on?’”

Freeport police officers Nathan Leger, left, and Keith Norris will be on the roof of the L.L. Bean Flagship Store, near the Bean Boot, on Friday, Sept. 4, in a fundraiser for Special Olympics Maine.Staff photo by Larry Grard