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“Kids & Cops” draws hundreds to meet and greet area police officers

By Christine Anne Piesyk | August 3, 2008 |

In the baking heat of the K-Mart parking lot on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, with throngs of exhaust-spewing cars clogging the lot, stalwart members of the Clarksville Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, Fort Campbell Military Police, and members of the Clarksville Citizen Police, gathered Saturday for a “Cops and Kids” day, an event designed to introduce local youngsters to those whose mission it is to ’serve and protect.”

Mounted Officer Cristel Patterson with one of her fans at "Kids and Cops"

Kaye Jones, president of the Citizens Police said the program was designed “to introduce children to local law enforcement in a positive way. Too many times youngsters first encounter police in instances of domestic violence, of accidents or disasters, or some other negative instance. This is another view of our law enforcement officers and what they do.” It is the second year this program has been held.

Jones noted that the choice of date and location was made to coincide with the tax-free weekend, maximizing the opportunity to interact with the largest possible numbers of families and children.

The Clarksville Tactical Response Team, garbed in black uniforms, was clustered about the response truck. “Bob,” he CPD’s bomb-sniffing robot was availabble for public inspection — something that appealed greatly to young children enamored of robots and movies like the recent “Wall-E.” The Mounted Police were on hand, allowing youngsters to hop up for a quick picture taken with a mounted officer astride several of the department’s magnificent horses. The canine division brought its dogs to meet and greet the public.

There was a steady line of cars and vans waiting for a car-seat check, making sure that the various kinds of car seats for infants and children were properly secured.

Photographer Bill Larson captured these images of the Cops and Kids Day on August 2.

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About Christine Anne Piesyk

With 40 years behind me (Huh? What? How did that happen?) as a journalist, feature writer, investigative reporter, editor, and film/theater/arts critic, I brought my liberal New England activism to Tennessee several years ago. having completed a midlife undergraduate degree in community organizing and women's studies, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Arts. I am currently an MFA student at Goddard College. I served on Future Search Commissions for two colleges and an issue-specific commission for the City of Northampton, MA, and did minor undergraduate work in studies in urban planning and community development. I am a community volunteer and a member of FreeThinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties. I am a certified storm spotter. In my spare time (define spare time please?) I am a voracious reader, obsessive movie buff, classical music junkie; I also and design and make sci-fi/fantasy and renaissance costumes. I have an unquenchable interest in just about everything. I see life as an ongoing opportunity for learning and adventure, with the best things still to come. All posts by Christine Anne Piesyk as presented on Clarksville Online are copyright ©2006, 2007 to the author.




Email: womanspeak@yahoo.com