Woonsocket Radio News Room

 

Woonsocket Police Department

242 Clinton Street • Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895

Telephone (401) 766-1212 • Fax (401) 765-4922

7/6/18

***Press Release ***

"I Scream for Safety" - A Summer Safety Program

INTRODUCTION

The summer season presents additional challenges for public safety, specifically with regard to child safety. This summer, the Woonsocket Police Department will partner with the Woonsocket Rotary Club and local businesses in a proactive safety campaign to help keep our kids safe.

PROGRAM

Officers on patrol will be on the lookout for kids who are using good safety habits, from wearing their helmets on bikes to crossing the street safely. Officers who "catch" kids being safe will issue a "ticket" for the act. The child can turn in the ticket for a free ice cream cone at a local community partner.

The program will run all summer, from July 1 to September 1, 2018.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

This program is made possible in part by a generous donation from the Woonsocket Rotary Club.

Three restaurants in Woonsocket who serve over-the-counter ice cream cones have enthusiastically agreed to take part in this program:

• Cool Corner Creamery – 171 Greene St

• Aroma Café – 17 Front St

• Sunrise Pizza – 180 Social St

BENEFITS

This program will benefit the community and the Department in several ways:

• Promote child safety during the active summer months.

• Create opportunities for positive interactions between police officers and kids.

• Further establish the Community Policing approach of the WPD.

• Engage local businesses in partnerships in the interest of public safety.

　

• Create positive advertising and increased business for Community Partners.

SPECIAL THANKS

The Woonsocket Police Department would like to thank Woonsocket Legal Department Executive Secretary, Priscilla Steenbergen, from whom this concept originated. In June, Priscilla came across a similar program in Portsmouth, NH, where officers were giving "tickets" for pizza to kids who wore their bicycle helmets. Priscilla loved this idea and thought it was something we might want to do here at home; she was right!