It is Safety Week in Killeen ISD and special guests from police and fire departments, and other community partners are visiting schools to provide extremely important messages to their youngest citizens.
Killeen ISD police officers Anthony Veith and Michael Frost shared with students Tuesday at Maxdale Elementary School a variety of lessons aimed at what to do in an emergency.
Engaged students peppered the uniformed officers with questions and in the end, students got a close-up look inside the police vehicles.
Seated on the ground at the rear of the school building, students listened as officers spoke and passed around police department stickers.
Veith led the discussion, asking questions of students and answering their questions.
He explained the process of answering calls for assistance, defusing dangerous situations, chasing down suspects and criminal investigations that lead to arrests.
He also fit one student with a tourniquet to show that police sometimes provide first aid.
The police officers showed their equipment, including handcuffs, an incident report, first aid items and handheld body armor.
When an emergency occurs, students seemed to know the priority is to call 911 or get an adult to make the call.
It’s also important in a dangerous situation, the officers said, to find a safe place, like a locked room and to stay away from windows and doors.
Students inquired about the officers’ prior experiences and learned they have investigated a wide range of serious crimes, have chased down perpetrators and have cleared many and various crimes.
School visits, the officers said, are important to provide students with important messages about staying safe, but also about instilling trust in law enforcement personnel.
“The goal is to go over different scenarios that might be an emergency where they might have to notify someone and what they might be able to expect when police arrive on scene,” Veith said.
Also, if they see a crime and investigation in their neighborhood, they could understand what police are doing to make the situation safe.
“Also, information they can provide to us in the event they see something,” he said.
“They have a lot of curiosity, and they are very excited to see the equipment and hear some of the stories.”
“I’m excited to foster some trust between them and us,” said Frost.
“I want to say we’re not taking anyone to jail. I don’t want that fear instilled in them. We want them to come to us if there is something wrong.”
See our photo gallery here of the officers’ visit/
To contact the KISD police department to schedule an officer presentation see the following:
https://www.killeenisd.org/o/kisd/page/police
KISD School Safety information:
https://www.killeenisd.org/o/kisd/page/supporting-safe-learning-environments