Austin residents better watch their Ps and Q because the Austin Police Department grew by 370 members this week.

Friday, March 23, 2001

Austin residents better watch their Ps and Q because the Austin Police Department grew by 370 members this week. That’s how many second-graders took their oaths as junior police officers in ceremonies over the last few days.

While these young officers cannot arrest criminals, they have badges and can identify a criminal like expert witnesses after three weeks of instruction by Austin Police Officer Travis Heickley. Students at St. Augustine, Holy Cross, Banfield, Southgate, Sumner and Neveln elementary schools received identification cards, for which they were fingerprinted, received badges and were given a picture of a badge to color.

The reverse side of the coloring sheet reminded students of some of the basics learned over the course of the program, the most famous of which was: "If you don’t know, don’t go." In other words, if a stranger tries to induce you to go with them, run away and tell someone. The students learned a stranger is not a dark, scary-looking, hulking person, but can look like another child or a senior citizen.

"I like to get out and see people like this, to talk to second-graders," Heickley told students at Neveln on Thursday. The 60 to 70 students at Neveln were the last group of Austin elementary school students to graduate this year.

The most popular part of the graduation ceremony seemed to be a special tour of the inside of an Austin police car, with siren blaring and lights flashing.

"It was cool," Hayley Waalkens said of the police car. She had one complaint, however: "It was kinda small for my feet."

Jimmy Elleby said being in the car was "kinda scary."

"I was standing in front of it (the car) and it went ‘bup’ and I went ‘Ahhhh!’" Braiden Nelson said.

"I felt like I was locked in and was going to prison," Beth Belden said.

The junior police program teaches second-graders to identify tricks child abductors use, then to run away and report the trick to parents. The tricks were presented to the students in the form of the alphabet from letters A through J. "A" stands for authority: just because someone presents themselves as an authority figure, that doesn’t mean you should do what they say. "J" is for "jobs": Don’t accept a job opportunity unless you check with someone you trust to make sure that person is trustworthy.

Through movies and a coloring book created by Austin Police Capt. Curt Rude and students at Austin High School, the children learned about fire safety, vandalism and how to be a good citizen.

When asked what is the most important thing the children learned over the course of the program, Robinson said, "This helps build self-confidence." She added that the information about vandalism and who can be trusted has been discussed by the students outside of class time, evidence it has made an impact.

"One year I had a boy come to me and tell me about a child who was having trouble at home," Robinson said. She said the boy was being abused at home by his older brother and was helped because the student told her what was happening.

During the graduation ceremony, students were shown that they can strive to become a volunteer police explorer officer. Kyle Klapperich, chief of the Explorer program in Austin, said he patrols at the Mower County Fair and assists police officers during ride-alongs.

"It’s not something I have to do," Klapperich said. "It’s something I want to do for Austin."

A number of children, including Abel Salazar and Nate Kohnke, stated they want to help in the future as well – they want to be police officers when they grow up. There was an exception though; Belden said she does not want to be a police officer, but she did learn an important lesson through the course: "I learned to recognize a person, if they’re gonna get you or not."

After graduating this week, the potential that second-graders will want to do something for Austin is greater. Because of the time they spent with Heickley, it is certain they are empowered to do something for themselves, at the least, if a dangerous situation arises.

Call Kevira Mertha at 434-2233 or e-mail her at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.