Paris Junior College’s Continuing Education Department sponsors the “PJC Kids College,” a variety of fun courses and activities for children.
The program is designed for children in kindergarten through the fifth grade.
Many of the courses consist of activities that children normally do not experience during the regular school year; such as “Cooks ‘N Books”, “The Great Escape”, “Reporting: Live from the Scene”, just to name a few.
For the past few years, Paris police officers have been honored to support PJC by demonstrating some of their tactical and investigative equipment to the Kids College students.
This year was no different.
Acting Captain Doug Murphy with the Criminal Investigation Division and SWAT team – Detective Brenton Middleton; both sporting their tactical attire, along with Patrol officer Derek Bristow, in full patrol uniform supervised the kids as they were allowed to peruse their SWAT and Patrol Vehicles.
Inside the classroom, Capt. Murphy talked to the kids about general police work in an age appropriate manner and talked about what a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) does, while also displaying some protective SWAT equipment.
The kids responded with the most common question, “are you in the army-military?”
In the PJC parking lot, some children climbed into the SWAT armord vehicle, while Det. Middleton hoisted others up so they could pretend to be a driver or just take a look around.
Several yards away, Officer Bristow’s patrol vehicle’s emergency lights, siren, and horns were getting a workout. Bristow allowed the children to have fun talking on the vehicle’s Public Address (PA) Speaker.
PJC Criminal Justice Instructor Paul Guidry was very instrumental in efficiently managing the event in such a way that all the children could participate with all the exhibits.
The Paris Police Department, through its Community Outreach Coordinator, Kimmie Snowton wishes to thank PJC and the Kids-College program coordinators in promoting our ongoing effort to promote and advance the bonds of trust and friendship between law enforcement and our young ones.
