PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Students rarely have a chance to interact with police officers or to show them appreciation for the work that they do. Moreover, students are often intimidated by police officers and hesitant to approach them. Although police officers provide invaluable services to the community, there are few programs designed to foster communication between community members and the police officers who serve them. This project was designed to communicate to local law enforcement agencies the community's appreciation for the traffic enforcement work they do.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Give a Policeman a PAT (Police Appreciation Time) project was to provide students with an opportunity to interact with and show their support for local police officers and their work with impaired driving and occupant protection issues. Objectives of the project included:

Inviting all schools in Mississippi to participate in the Give a Policeman a PAT project

Providing schools with suggestions for various Give a Policeman a PAT activities

Involving School Safety Club officers in organizing students to perform routine tasks for local police during a predetermined week

Encouraging further interaction between police officers and students

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Office of Highway Safety sent a memo to all schools in Mississippi, inviting them to participate in the Give A Policeman a PAT project. Schools electing to participate received packets containing information on the program, which was scheduled for the

Give a Policeman a Pat (cont'd)

second week of October, 1995, and suggestions for activities to implement. Ideas were provided for elementary age students as well as middle school, high school and college students. The packet also contained useful publicity strategies for disseminating information about the project throughout the community, including a sample press release. Schools were able to tailor programs to their particular community needs. Some project activities conducted included the following:

Serving officers coffee and donuts around the clock

Washing police cars

Babysitting for officers on Friday night of PAT Week

Elementary school students made posters for display in police headquarters

Students encouraged community members to drive with their lights on in recognition of police officer appreciation

Gulfport city schools hosted a luncheon for police officers

RESULTS

Over 200 schools participated in the Give a Policeman a PAT project. The activities enabled officers and students to interact with each other, thereby helping to break down the barriers of communication between them. Due to the strong community support for traffic enforcement as reflected by PAT activities, police officers have been able to sustain impaired driving enforcement efforts and increase occupant protection awareness. Gulfport, Mississippi police officers were recognized for their safety belt and child restraint enforcement efforts which resulted in a 61 percent occupant restraint usage rate citywide. Also, as a result of the strong community support for both traffic enforcement and crime enforcement, President Clinton recognized the Gulfport Police Chief for his community relations activities.