Woodland Police Activities League wraps up fun week for local youth

By Carlos Guerrero on June 29, 2024

On Friday, the Woodland Police Department's Woodland Police Activities League wrapped up a fun week for local youth that included trips to the Sacramento Railroad Museum, Query Park, the Woodland Police Station and a morning at Charles Brooks Community Swim Center.

"This program is just another thing we try to do to connect with the youth in the community," WPD Deputy Chief Dallas Hyde said. "The school resource officers are doing it every day on the school campuses but doing it during the summer shows their commitment to our local youth. School Resource Officers Omar Flores, Carlos Barrera and Stephanie Wilson are invaluable to our community."

According to its website, WPAL's goal is to reach out and enrich the lives of the youth and the communities to reduce juvenile crime and delinquency. The non-profit organization unites law enforcement officers with youth, showing them there is a life outside of the crime culture.

This year's program, which has been ongoing for the past 10 years, included about a dozen or so second through eighth graders from select schools in the Woodland Joint Unified School District. According to Wilson, the program coordinator, administrators at select WJUSD schools selected confident kids who they believed would benefit from being around different police officers and different activities in the city.

Local second through eighth-grade students participating in the Woodland Police Department's Woodland Police Activities League looking on during a K9 demonstration at the WPD on Wednesday, June 26. (Carlos Guerrero/Daily Democrat)

Woodland Police Department Sgt. Ted Ruiz shows off a police motorcycle to local second through eighth graders in the WPD's Woodland Police Activities League on Wednesday, June 26. (Courtesy)

Local youth participating in the Woodland Police Department's Woodland Police Activities League enjoyed a BBQ lunch provided by WPD Deputy Chief Dallas Hyde on Wednesday, June 26. (Courtesy)

The week began Monday with a trip to Square One at the Woodland Public Library. On Tuesday, the group visited the Sacramento Railroad Museum in downtown Sacramento.

On Wednesay, the WPD welcomed all of the kids for a BBQ. Hyde was on the grill and provided burgers for staff and program participants. Before the BBQ, everyone toured the department and saw how fingerprinting worked, the ins and outs of a motorcycle and a K-9 demonstration.

"Today gave the kids a unique opportunity behind the scenes to see what our officers do every day," Hyde said. "It's just a fun day for them to come in and hang out with the school resource officers with whom they have spent the last few weeks. Speaking with the kids during lunch, they all said today was a big highlight."

On Thursday, everyone took a trip to Query Park in Rocklin before concluding the week with a refreshing swim at the community swimming pool located next to Woodland High School at 155 N. West St.