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The Lamar Police Department |
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Lamar, Missouri The Birthplace of President Harry S Truman |
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The Lamar Police Department had a busy year. We spent a lot of time chasing, and catching, bad guys. However, we saved enough time to do what we all love to do most, play with the citizens of this great town. We had old favorites like Fish with a Cop and Bike Day, and we added a new one, Shop with a Cop. We also had the officers teaching classes again and there were several of them including DARE, GREAT, and Internet Safety, just to name a few. The officers see these events as a fun way to interact with the people they normally don’t get a chance to see. They enjoy answering the routine questions (“what is this” as the small child points to something on your fancy “utility belt”), and even the occasional bizarre question. I know that when I taught the Internet Safety classes to the 5th grade they had a lot of questions, but they were all very good. The goal of these events is to let the public (especially the children) know that we are not mean and that just because we wrote you (or your parents) a ticket doesn’t mean we don’t like you, we just have a job to do. We like to have these types of activities so people can get to know the officers and sometimes even their families. All the officers’ spouses helped with the Shop with a Cop program, which was a big hit for the 28 children that participated. |
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Officer Mitchell Shaw started another new program. He is distributing Guardian 911 dialers that allow elderly people the ability to contact emergency personnel when they have fallen or can’t get to a phone. They are wireless devices that connect to your phone and when you activate it it dials 911 and then opens a line of communication through the device. Officer Shaw distributed 5 units in 2007 and has more ready for this |
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year.
In closing, I would like to thank the citizens of Lamar for participating in these events. If we didn’t have any participation we would not get to meet some of the people we see. Thank you all for coming last year and I hope to see you this year! |
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By Jeremy Brand Security was extremely tight at the Lamar Wal-Mart store on Saturday, December 22nd, everywhere you turned you ran into an officer. There was one difference this time though, they were being led by a young child. Officers and their spouses from the Lamar Police Department held their first annual Shop With A Cop program. They were assisted by officers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, and Missouri Department of Conservation. The program is designed to help families that are going through tough times and also to show the kids that police officers are here to help them and are their friends.
The day started off at the Eastside Station and Deli, where Judy Crockett and her wonderful staff fixed a breakfast fit for a king for the kids and officers. Judy knows that with all the shopping that was about to take place the officers would need all the energy they could get. Once breakfast was done everyone made their way to Wal-Mart where a short time later they were shocked to see Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive in Gailand Johnston’s big rig, The Inferno, which was built by the Chrome Shop Mafia on CMT’s Trick My Truck. Once Santa and Mrs. Claus said hello to all the kids, young and old, the shopping spree began, with the help of Wal-Mart Manager, Phil VanKirk, Assistant Manager, Fran Richter and the Wal-Mart Associates.
The shopping spree began with a welcome from Officer Jeremy Brand and his wife, Nikki, who was the spearhead of the project. Then each child was matched with an officer and given a $100 shopping card. The money for the shopping cards was funded by local businesses and individuals who donated so that the children could have a better Christmas. The children who were chosen for this year’s program were taken from a list compiled through efforts of several people and organizations.
Once the shopping started some of the officers found themselves in a little over their heads. These officers, who handle any and all emergencies at anytime they are called upon to do so, found themselves at the mercy of little girls who know how to shop for a deal. There were also the little boys who, like most little boys, do what they do best and pick up everything and throw it in the cart while saying “I want that”. Not to mention not telling the officer who is trying to keep track of the money they are spending by writing down what the price was, or taking the other items out of the cart. If it were not for the spouses of the officers as well as volunteers from City Hall, I think the officers might have gotten overwhelmed. But in true fashion they held it together and made the most of the morning with the kids. Even those who do not like their picture taken knelt down next to Santa and Mrs. Claus and had their picture taken with their new found partner. These photos were printed off by the Wal-Mart Photo Shop and given to the child and their officer so that they each would have a memory to take home beyond what was in their hearts. The morning was ended with the spouses and volunteer’s wrapping some of the things the kids bought as gifts for other family members. You could see those old, so called, tough cop hearts melt when a 9 year old boy says that the first thing he wants to buy is a present for his Mom, what a kid.
The morning was something that each officer will carry with them for a long time. It is not often that we have the opportunity to meet kids under such positive conditions and we really appreciate everyone that helped whether it was by the giving of money or time, it was all needed to make a child’s Christmas a little brighter. Some asked if the program would be held again and it was met by an enthusiastic “YES” from the officer’s and spouses. This was also reinforced by the fact that while the program was in progress, people approached the officer’s and gave money which will be used towards next years kids. This also goes to show you that the people in Barton County are some of the most giving people in the world, thank you to everyone who made this day possible. |
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FISH WITH A COP 2007 Patrol Officer Landon Ison
“Fish With a Cop” 2007 brought sunny skies warm weather and plenty of kids ready to skip a half day of school. Fish With a Cop took place at Wheeler Park. The pond was stocked by the Department of Conservation, with catfish and bluegill a week prior to ensure kids would have an eventful day catching fish all day long. The Missouri Conservation Department was on hand this year cooking up some of the best fish and fries you could eat. The Conservation Department supplied the poles, hooks, bobbers and everything needed to catch these hungry fish. Wal-Mart donated the worms used for the day, as they have for the past several years. The kids came in two groups, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. For some of these kids it was the first experience they had with fishing. With a few pointers they were catching fish every few minutes. The kids kept us busy taking one fish off after another. We spent a lot of our time putting worms on hooks, taking fish off and getting their lines untangled from trees. Some of the more advanced fisherman were taking their bobbers off and fishing the bottom of the pond to catch to big ones. In years past you’ll find kids that have done this type of fishing and know what they are doing and they’ll pull in some big catfish. Most kids will usually catch fish that are about the same size as their hook. But every year a couple of kids will catch some catfish reaching close to five pounds. Fishing with a cop is always a good chance for the kids to get to know the police officers in their town and know that we are there to help if they should ever need it. I would also like to invite all the City Council members to come join us for this activity for 2008 and years to come! |
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Internet Safety
I am Officer Jeremy Brand with the Lamar Police Department. I teach an Internet Safety class geared towards children of all ages. I chose to teach in this area due to my computer background. I have been a computer “geek” since grade school when my dad brought home a fancy new thing called a Comodore 64. It was hooked up to a black and white TV, but I loved that thing. I taught myself how to write BASIC programs and I was hooked from there. I went through High School teaching some of my teachers how to do computer stuff. While I was in college I went to work for a company called LaBarge Electronics, Inc and met a “computer guy” and he took me under his wing and I followed him until I made the decision to become a police Officer in the late 90’s. Then recently I went to some forensic training teaching me how to retrieve evidence from a computer even after it has been erased and plan on even more training in this computer forensics field in the future.
I taught a class for Mr. Luce’s 7th grade class and you would be amazed at how many of those kids have a MySpace account. Hopefully after my class they will understand the importance of making their MySpace a private account because people all over the world can see every photo and every comment on your page if you don’t make it private. I also teach them how easy it is for anyone with some basic computer knowledge to track someone just from seeing their nick name in a chat room. I also warn them of the danger of opening email from people you don’t know. We talk about how people can misrepresent themselves when you can’t see them and how bad things can happen when people want to meet you in real life. I share a couple of videos that are narrated by teens that were lured in by Internet predators and actually met in real life. In both of the incidents the girls felt like they were very lucky to be alive and both of the predators were in prison for their actions. We also talk about some things that parents can do and give them a hand out that they can give to a parent. The most important thing we discuss is to tell a trusted adult. If someone says something inappropriate or sends you something that makes you feel scared or embarrassed, tell a trusted adult. It can be a parent or a policeman or a teacher, but tell a trusted adult!!!
I also provided some training in this area for the Barton County Health Department. The ladies there were very interested in what I had to say. They asked good questions and were also amazed at how easy it was to track a person down on the internet. Did you know that if you just type a person’s phone number into Google that, with a few mouse clicks, you can have a satellite image of their home and surrounding area? Pretty scary, huh? There is a ton of information that I can give you on the topic of internet safety, but the most important part is to use common sense. No one is going to give you money for nothing, and you are not going to win a lottery you did not sign up for. If someone says you won a lottery and wants you to cash a check and send them the balance for a “transaction fee” it is a scam.
Finally, I would like to add that if you would like for me to speak at a function or a group meeting, please let me know. I enjoy spreading this information to people so the internet can be a safer place for our children. |