The Lamar Police Department

Lamar, Missouri     The Birthplace of President Harry S Truman

                 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 continued with our second annual 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 5^th 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.

                 Officer Mitchell Shaw continued with  distributing Guardian911 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 requested to take this job with him when he left to

become the Sheriff of Barton County, however the officers of the Police Department will continue to provide assistance with the dialers whenever called upon.

             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!

By Jeremy Brand

           Security was tight at Lamar Wal-Mart on Saturday the 20^th of December.  Every where you turned there were uniformed officers.  There were officers from five different agencies including the Lamar and Joplin Police Departments, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Missouri Conservation Department.  They were there for the Second Annual Lamar Police Department Shop with a Cop Program. 

 

           The program started at Eastside where Judy Crockett and her staff fixed breakfast for all the hungry kids and officers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

           From there the kids were taken to Wal-Mart in the Oakton Church Bus (escorted by a parade of Police cars).  A short time later we had a big surprise when Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus arrived in The Godfather.  The Godfather is a truck that was built by the Chrome Shop Mafia in Joplin.  The children cheered when they saw the truck and the passengers. The kids were then introduced to their “cop” and given a $100 Wal-Mart gift card.  The children can buy anything they want for whoever they want.  During the shopping the children are given the opportunity to have a picture made with Santa and Mrs. Claus and Wal-Mart printed the pictures so that each officer and child would have one to remember the event.  There were some great moments with this program and the children really bond with the officer.  The officer’s wives were present and helped with the shopping (could you imagine if they hadn’t) and then with the wrapping of gifts if the child wanted them wrapped.  During the shopping this year people contacted officers and said they liked what they were doing and donated money to the program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           The program is funded by businesses and individuals donating money so that children can shop for Christmas presents.  The children are selected by officers of the Lamar Police Department with input from teachers, Department of Family Services, BARCEDA, other law enforcement, and even sponsors.  This year we expanded the program to cover all of Barton County and invited 37 kids from 18 different families.  The families were also given a coupon for an Angel Food Ministries basket.  The program is designed to help families that are going through a tough time and to show the children that the police officers are there to help them and that they are people they can trust. 

 

FISH WITH A COP 2007

       Patrol Officer Landon Ison

 

 

On May 9^th the Lamar Police Department held our annual Fish With a Cop day at Wheeler Park.  Each year the Lamar Police Department, along with the Missouri Department of Conservation take the Lamar 6^th grade class fishing.  The kids are divided into two groups.  One group fished in the morning and the other in the afternoon.  With approximately fifty kids in each group they kept us busy.  The Conservation Department stocks the pond with catfish and bluegill each year prior to this event.  We assist the kids with untangling line, taking off fish, and baiting hooks. 

Each year we have a few kids that have never fished before.  We teach these kids the fundamentals of fishing so when they leave they are able to fish on their own.  The kids are fed lunch which is cooked by the Missouri Department of Conservation.  The Conservation Department cooked a deep fried catfish and potato lunch for everyone who attended.  Before each group left for the day we had a drawing for a new fishing rod and reel.  The two winners were Travis Ray, and Andrew Willet.  Travis Ray was one of the kids that had never fished before this event. The weather was great!  Sunny skies and a light breeze made for a great day of fishing. 

             With this program we are trying to develop a continuing relationship between the students and the police officers.  We are with them during the 5th grade with the D.A.R.E program and then again in the 7^th grade with the G.R.E.A.T program.  This event keeps us in contact with the student body and promotes a good healthy relationship between us.  We were fortunate to have members from the Barton County Ambulance Department on hand to assist us.  Wal-Mart donates the worms for this event each year.  Summer Fresh donated the pop and the ketchup for lunch.

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 7^th 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.

Officer’s, kids, Santa, and Mrs. Claus

Officer’s and Spouses from the Lamar Police Department, Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Liberal Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, and Missouri State Department of Conservation.