Thursday was a day that Greene County second graders will never forget as they got to see up close the different things that local law enforcement use to protect the community and help those in need.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Police Department, Iowa State Patrol and even UnityPoint Health Life Flight partnered with the elementary school for the first-ever “Heroes in Action: An Afternoon with First Responders.” The kids got to see Life Flight make a live landing on the bus turnaround area, and then there were several stations set up including the Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit, drone demonstrations and what law enforcement uses the technology for, along with the different emergency response vehicle, the equipment that law enforcement uses, and even a taser demonstration.

Elementary Principal Audrey Hinote credited Sheriff’s Office Investigator Heath Enns for coming up with the idea to do an event like this.

“It really ties in with our second grade curriculum and they study heroes, and community heroes in one of their units in literacy. So this partnered really nicely with that and that was a unit they finished right at the end of March. So the timing could not have been better.”  

Sheriff Jack Williams said that it is a double-win for law enforcement and first responders to do an event like that for the younger kids.

“Just basically going through everything that we use, or fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) use, on a daily basis so they can see it. And if we ever had to help them or find them, they’ve seen it and it should be easier for them to deal with. We’re in the schools, we try to be in every school at least once a week. It’s just to build relationships with the kids, so that we try to get away from the fear of the police, we’d rather have them know us as friends and that we’re here to help.”    

Hinote added that this event is being planned to be an annual activity for every second grade class.