September 8, 2025 — The work done at the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) focuses on keeping New Yorkers safe and informed. They catalog fingerprints, records of arrest and prosecution, and even work alongside other agencies and nonprofits to help keep guns off the streets. The work is hard, and often unseen. However, DCJS has carved out a special time for employees to show their children exactly what it is their parents do for their fellow New Yorkers.
Attendance at the Take Your Child to Work Day event at the Albany office of DCJS was sporadic at first but has grown steadily since 2015 according to one of the main organizers, Marc Schabses. Marc is a Program Research Specialist 4 and PEF Steward for Division 204. The event was put on pause in 2020 due to COVID but returned in 2024 and 2025. He said that the event has become important to members of PEF who work at DCJS, as well as employees in other bargaining units like CSEA. Over 40 children from 1st grade to 12th grade attended the event this year.
“This event really allows members to ‘show off’ their work to their children,” said Schabses. “As a public safety support agency, our work is extremely important. On this day, children get a first-hand look at how their parents contribute to the wellbeing and safety of all New Yorkers.”
For the members at DCJS, this is a humanizing moment. It is a chance, said Schabses, to go beyond the work that is being done to build relationships with supervisors, managers and co-workers. For PEF, it’s also a good membership engagement opportunity. Members tell Schabses about the pride they feel in their work when their kids accompany them to the office.
“This is a concrete reminder to everyone that life is made up of more than just work,” said Schabses. “When supervisors and managers get to meet and put faces and voices with the names of their staff’s children, they are likely to be more empathetic or understanding when an employee needs to call out to care for a sick child or requests time off for a class picnic or to chaperone a school field trip.”
Through events like these, PEF and management also hope to share with children the potential for future careers at DCJS. Children learn about the various criminal justice and public safety opportunities that are available at DCJS and within the public sector.
“Even if they don’t want to directly follow in mom or dad’s footsteps, maybe they will talk to a classmate or friend about something interesting they saw while participating in the event,” said Schabses. “From the daughters’ and sons’ perspective, they were probably bought-in as soon as they realized it would be a day off from school and all-you-can-eat pizza.”
In addition to pizza, the event also features sessions and programming that introduces all aspects of the work being done at DCJS, including K-9 demonstrations, forensic evidence demonstrations, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) activities, poster contests, Internet Safety activities, police motorcycle demonstrations, Capital Tours and more.
The response from children has been positive. Schabses and other PEF members have received thank you letters and posters from children to show their gratitude. Attendance over the years has grown as well.
“The fact that attendance rebounded so strongly the last two years speaks to the fact that the program resonates with the children,” Schabses said.
Plans for the next Take Your Child to Work Day at DCJS in the Spring of 2026 have already begun.