On July 6th VTSeva youth had an opportunity to meet and greet the police officers with an appreciation lunch to the entire team of 50 RRPD from VTSeva.
Thanks to Officer Earin Jackson for the great welcoming smile and her passion demonstrated during the department tour.
Youth volunteers have submitted a Thank you poster to Chief of police Allan Banks. His shared his inspirational stories with the kids.
The department tour we had was an eye opener and realized how blessed and privileged our families are and how comfortable life we are leading. Tears rolled looking at the juvenile section and hearing their stories.
A person is not born bad, it's the decisions that make us bad. And every officer there believed in a second chance.
As a parent and a police officer looking at the bad side of society all the time, not lose temper towards the kids is a very tough job. Their willingness to uplift the youth and create relationships with communities to help youth to lead a right path was amazing.
A compassionate heart and at the same time staying hard to do the right thing is definitely not a cup of tea.
It was a great experience to see the daily life of police and understand the emotions and the stress 911 call takers go through.
There is so much to learn from these heroes who put their life on the line. They demonstrated their passion for community service grit and the rigorous and continuous training regime they go through. They taught kids that you can make a difference in society at their level with a service mindset and overcome anxiety and fear with preparedness. No need to be gender biased or feel stereotypical.
It was indeed an amazing experience to tour the different departments within the RRPD. Really value and appreciate how they adhere to the core values and how inclusive RRPD is, especially their community outreach and things they do to make community members comfortable.
Volunteers words
My experience at RRPD - Appreciation lunch. I would say that this is my first time entering a police station; I was hesitant at first but then was excited after seeing how welcoming the police were. First we met the community officer Erin Jackson, she was so sweet and I loved the way she welcomed us and told us that without the help of the community we as police officers can’t serve the city right. Walking down the hallways of the police station it felt like I was a mouse running through a maze. The building was massive. And every police officer we met along the way had great experiences to share, but the most memorable one is the Chief officer’s journey. His journey started when he was 8 years old and decided to be a police officer and serve his community. When I was 8, I had no clue what I was going to be and had no dream to follow but, I always thought that one day I would find it. A Lot of the people I know have bad impressions on what a police officer is and their duty, but after spending time with them I understood that police officers are no superheroes. They are normal humans that have lives, when they take their uniforms off. If we are afraid to tell them our problems or even go up to them to share, we can never see the difference we want to see in the community – Ravi Varma Vathsavai
This is my first time entering the police station; I was pretty excited because I remember as a child I always wanted to go into a police station. As an individual I have heard bad things about and know people who had bad experiences. But today this experience was way more different than everything I heard of, the police officers were very welcoming to us and really wanted us to be there and learn more about what happens behind the scenes. It was really fun when we met all the officers around the building, everyone was willing to tell their stories. It was nice to hear how all of them had to work so hard to get to the position they are at right now. Everyone has a different back story and different types of lifestyles they grew up in but, all the police officers have the same dream to protect the community and people. I know that they are not superheroes or out of the ordinary but, I know that they will be the first to put their chest out to protect us. Officer Erin Jackson, who is the community officer, was very sweet and welcomed us and said that “ being a police officer is to serve the community and know what the community wants in return from the police.” she added that without the community's support and feedback they cannot do the best job they can. - Pranavi Vathsavai