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Palestine Police Featured on Trading Cards

Special to The Messenger

PALESTINE – The Palestine Police Department launches the Police Trading Card program, Saturday, July 3, at the Independence Day Fireworks Celebration at Steven Bennett Park.

The Palestine Police Department is proud to announce the first edition of the “Palestine Police Cop Card” program. This program provides the Palestine Police Officers with baseball type trading cards. The front of the cards will have the officers photograph and the back of the cards will contain a short biography of the officer, as well as a personal message to the children from that officer. The Cop Card program is for children of 5 to 15 years of age, which does not mean that children of other ages or adults cannot collect the cards. Children of all ages are encouraged to participate.

The Cop Card program is designed to help familiarize the children with the police officers in the community to help establish a trusted bond between the children and the officers. By the officers personally handing out these cards, children will seek out officers and in turn help them feel comfortable speaking to an officer.

“We want children to feel comfortable enough to seek out a police officer when a parent is not around if they feel they are in danger or need help,” Palestine Police Community Liaison Michele Herbert said.

To keep the children interested in collecting the cards, they must collect all 23 cards to enter a drawing for prizes, which includes a bike, in each age group (5-8yrs, 9-12yrs, 13-15yrs), which will be held at the conclusion of the program. Complete rules and guidelines can be seen at http://bit.ly/PalCopCardProgram. Children entering the drawing must turn in their trading card checklist by Wednesday, Aug. 11. The drawing will be held Thursday, Aug. 12.

This program is an interactive and positive community initiative in which Palestine youth and their families get to know more about the officers within their police department. Also, interaction occurs within the community, as families can collect the cards and through personal interactions with Officers on the streets. Once the program is officially started on July 3,

Officers will carry a compliment of their respective cards to distribute to youth they meet in the neighborhoods and throughout the city.

Funding for this program was provided by Mr. Chris Wilsey of Tennessee Colony who is concerned with the negative publicity that our law enforcement face today. His goal is to help change the negative perception of police officers and shed light on all the positive things that our police officers do for our community.

If you would like more information, please call Michele Herbert, Community Liaison/PIO at 903-731-8418 or email at [email protected].

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