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It’s a gray Thursday morning, but neither the weather nor the hour had any effect on the energy of this group. They came pouring off the bus, nearly 50 elementary-age kids in matching blue-and-white tie-die shirts, talking, laughing, finding and losing their water bottles.
The sight of a group of antelope running across one of the nearby hills brought the excitement even higher.
“Deer!” “I don’t think those are deer.” “I want to ride one!” The adults, members of the Lexington Police Department, including Chief Angela Greene, stepped out from under the welcome pavilion into the drizzle, calling for their groups — “Scooby Do!,” “Hype Fire!” — and loose bunches of children began moving down the path toward the animals.
This visit to the Virginia Safari Park at Natural Bridge was part of the final day’s events of the two-week-long Lexington Junior Police Camp.
In addition to the safari park, the campers visited the Natural Bridge State Park, Dinosaur Kingdom, Washington and Lee University’s ropes course, Virginia Military Institute’s rock wall, and participated in swimming and skateboarding lessons.
They also took some law enforcement-related field trips, as one of the campers, Liberty O’Mahony, explained.
“We saw the police dispatch, we got to ask questions to a police detective and we went to a courtroom,” she said. “We got to ask questions to a judge, and we got to see the rooms people stay in when they’re waiting to go into court.”
The camp, which was held for the first time last year, aims to build bridges between community members and law enforcement, a goal that Greene believes this year’s camp achieved.
“In the short two weeks, it was amazing to watch how quickly the children developed friendships with other campers and strong bonds with the police officers,” she said.
Though nervous at the beginning, the children soon grew more comfortable around the police officers.
“On their first day of camp, most of the children were a little nervous and shy, not knowing what to expect. But very quickly the officers and police staff immersed themselves with the children and began forging positive relationships amongst all the campers and police officers,” said Greene.
“By the end of the camp a special connection was built between all the campers and police staff that will provide long-lasting memories for years to come.”
With 47 children, between 8 and 13 years old, this year’s enrollment is more than double last year’s.
Greene plans to continue the program next year, potentially expanding the age range and allowing more opportunities for older campers.
“Due to some of our returning campers reaching the maximum camper age of 13, and expressing a desire to still be a part of the camp next year, we will look at the possibility of creating a Junior Camp counselor position for children over 13 years old to assist the police staff counselors during the camp,” she said.
“This will not only allow our older campers to return and continue building on the positive law enforcement relationship we created over these past two years, but also provide those older campers with leadership experience under the supervision of police personnel,” she said.
For Greene, positive and personal interactions with both children and parents were the highlight of the entire experience.
“Every morning I would have several parents tell me how much their children are enjoying the camp, as the children come home telling stories of their day’s adventure with police staff, and then wake up eagerly the next morning for another day at camp,” she said.
“It is not only joyful to see the positive interactions amongst the campers and police staff, but to hear the overwhelming accolades from the parents of how this camp is making a lasting impression on their children.”
