Summer of MPACT: Busy schedule planned for Marion Police Department's outreach program
The Marion Police Department (MPD) has a full schedule of activities planned for local children and youth this summer.
Lt. Ed Brown was installed as coordinator of the MPACT (Marion Police and Community Together) program in April 2021. He took over that role from Major B.J. Gruber, who was promoted from lieutenant to major last year and placed in charge of the Operations Division. MPACT was established in 2016 with Gruber as the head of the program.
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Brown said the learning curve of his new position combined with a restricted event schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic limited what MPACT could do during his first summer in charge of the program in 2021.
"With COVID going on and me just kind of getting my feet wet, we still did a lot of activities, but not what a lot of people are used to with our MPACT program," said Brown, who was formerly a member of the MPD Detective Bureau. "Last year, I think we ended up having three softball games and we played kickball with the Special Olympics athletes. The Jer-Zee (Drive-In) had a story time that they did outside and we made sure we visited that quite frequently. And we went out and visited all the lunch sites (provided by Marion City Schools) and tried to make our presence known.
"The way I kind of look at my job is really to facilitate our officers to interact with the community in a positive way."
The MPACT program includes Officer Montel Smith, who helps to mentor youth in his role, and Code Enforcement Officer Casey Thomas.
Brown said MPD started an Explorers program and will conduct a three-day camp for that group in June. MPD and the Marion County Sheriff's Office are co-sponsoring the Explorers day camp.
"It's another effort to get kids interested and involved in the community as well as law enforcement," Brown said. "So we'll be teaching them how we do our jobs a little more in-depth than we do with the public, going over traffic stops, building searches, things like that. The cool thing with the Explorers is that they can go to state and national competitions. Hopefully, down the road, we can get some more homegrown officers out of it."
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Another important program being offered this summer is a series of internet safety workshops, Brown said.
"We'll talk with kids in grades three through five, junior high, high school, and the one I'm pretty excited about is the class for parents and guardians," he said. "I've taught internet safety and some of the things that these kids were telling me will make you blush. I think we as parents, as adults, as guardians, we need to be aware of what our kids are doing online."
Brown said four dates have been set aside for the popular Hot dogs & Heroes event this summer. The Fairview Apartments (June 8), Glenwood Park (June 15), Martin Luther King Jr. Park (July 13), and Crescent Heights (July 27) are the four locations that will be visited by MPD officers and other volunteers.
Brown said MPACT is sponsoring a retirement party for K9 Officer Lt. Six on June 21 at the Buckeye Community School, located at 366 W. Center St. in downtown Marion. Lt. Six joined MPD in November 2013 and is the longest serving of the department's three K9 officers. His handler is Lt. Mark Elliott.
"Six is probably the most popular officer here at the police department," Brown said. "It's amazing to me the number of people outside of Marion that know of Six. I thought it would be cool to have a retirement party to honor Six. The event is open to the public. We've have cookies and punch and we'll have a couple of food trucks for anyone who wants to have dinner. A Taste of Memphis and Coffee & Crumb Cafe is going to be there. It'll give everybody the opportunity to see him one last time before Six enjoys retirement and just becomes a dog."
National Night Out, which is held in conjunction with Marion City Schools, is scheduled for Aug. 2 at Grant Middle School.
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MPACT Schedule
Following is the MPACT program schedule for the summer of 2022:
• June 1-3 — Explorers Day Camp at Marion Police Department
• June 6 — Internet Safety Workshop (grades 3-5) at Marion Public Library, 10 a.m.
• June 7 — Internet Safety Workshop (grades 6-8) at Marion Public Library, 10 a.m.
• June 8 — Hotdogs & Heroes at Fairview Apartments, 11 a.m.
• June 9 — Basketball game at Marion Family YMCA, 5 p.m.
• June 13 — Internet Safety Workshop (grades 9-12) at Marion Public Library, 10 a.m.
• June 14 — Internet Safety Workshop (parents) at Marion Public Library, 10 a.m.
• June 15 — Hot dogs & Heroes at Glenwood Park, 5 p.m.
• June 16 — Kickball with Special Olympians at Marion Board of DD field, 5 p.m.
• June 21 — K9 Six retirement party at Buckeye School, 4 to 6 p.m.
• June 23 — Special Olympics Torch Run,
• June 26 — Latino Health Fair at St. Mary Catholic Church, 2 p.m.
• June 28 — Kickball game at Marion Family YMCA, 2 p.m.
• July 13 — Hot dogs & Heroes at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 11 a.m.
• July 14 — Softball game vs. girls club team, TBA
• July 22 — Kickball game at Boys and Girls Club, 1 p.m.
• July 27 — Hot dogs & Heroes at Crescent Heights, 5 p.m.
• Aug. 2 — National Night Out at Grant Middle School, TBA
• Aug. 13 — Cruisin' with Cleveland-Gary Squires Memorial Car Show, TBA
MPACT will participate in story time at the Jer-Zee Drive-in at 10 a.m. each Tuesday throughout the summer. Officers will also attend the Marion Family YMCA summer camp activities and Boys and Girls Club activities throughout the summer.
For information about MPACT and other Marion Police Department activities, follow the police department's Facebook page or go to the department's website marionohiopolice.com.
Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Summer of MPACT: Busy schedule for Marion Police outreach program
