POLICE EVENT … Law enforcement departments from across Williams County came together on Saturday to spend the day with kids. Park With Police, organized by Deputy Tyler Maynard, hosted their 4th annual event with nearly 300 kids in attendance this year. VIEW 53 PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Jenna Frisby
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jenna@thevillagereporter.com
Park with the Police was held on Saturday, June 8th at The Imagination Station in Bryan, Ohio from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The annual event is held every year in the summer months and strives to impact kids to have positive lasting relationships with law enforcement.
The event was started up by Deputy Tyler Maynard back in 2020 as a result of his desire to bring law enforcement and the community closer together.
Right out of the police academy Deputy Maynard noticed the hesitancy of many citizens with the police. He recalled all the negativity he constantly heard about the job he so loved and had a passion for.
In thinking deeper as to why so many had negative views towards the police, he realized it was potentially because of a lack of relationships built. Building relationships builds trust.
That trust is what could allow those who may be being victimized the ability to approach law enforcement. “It’s vital to have close relationships with people,” Deputy Maynard stated, “How do we get these relationships started? It starts with the kids.” And that is exactly how Deputy Maynard’s vision for Park with the Police began.
In getting involved with the kids of the community they can build not just here and now relationships within the community but rather, lasting relationships across the board.
Building those relationships is vital to being active participants within the community. While each law enforcement department may be their own separate entity, all the law enforcement departments within Williams County pride themselves on their ability to be present in helping others.
Deputy Maynard fully believes that “Williams County is the best place to be in law enforcement.” And he accredits that to the community. The community is “supportive and instrumental in our impact”.
Park with the Police is more than just law enforcement driven. Its community driven and fully funded.
While Deputy Maynard is the one who goes to each business personally on his time off asking for donations, it’s a community effort in getting these kids involved in knowing law enforcement.
The entire event could not have happened without the generous donations of all the local businesses and personal sponsors.
In total Deputy Maynard received donations from 118 sponsors. Those donations resulted in the event raising over $17,500 before the event. 100% of which went straight back into the kids. Any funds raised during the event were distributed evenly to all K-9 Unit funds within the county.
Because of the incredible amount of donations, the event was able to hold a massive number of activities for the kids. Kids had the opportunity to be involved and participate in bounce houses, face painting, a bicycle safety obstacle course, playing an officer in a game of C.O.P. on the basketball court, a game of tag with a police officer on the playground, a shooting education station, an archery trailer, as well as several other activities that were held throughout the event.
Several demonstrations were also conducted during the event including one from Nature’s Nursery, a K-9 retrieval demonstration and even a K-9 bite demonstration.
Park with the Police’s first event was held in the summer of 2020. They started back then with only three bicycles to give away and a handful of prizes. This year, every child was given a drawstring backpack filled with goodies, and they got to be entered to win one of the 338 prizes that were being given out.
And that doesn’t even include all the coupons and gift cards that the event was also able to give away thanks to those sponsors. Some of those prizes raffled off included: 45 bikes, 30 helmets, 40 bike riding accessories, 33 kites, 20 large outdoor games (including badminton, football toss, and several water slides) as well as 170 other prizes!
Park with the Police was certainly an overall success this year as it has been in previous years and as it will continue to be in future years.
This year nearly 300 kids showed up and were impacted by the event, surely leaving with lasting memories and relationships from such a fun and educational day.
