With
a
full
roster
of
student
cadets,
police
officers
from
the
Prince
William
County
Police
Department
(PD)
who
support
PWCS
as
school
resource
officers
(SROs),
worked
with
community
organizations
to
launch
the
first
Junior
Police
Academy.
Thanks
to
the
commitment
of
dedicated
parents,
24
Kilby
Elementary
School
fourth
graders
spent
their
first
week
of
summer
attending
the
police
academy.
On
some
of
the
days,
they
boarded
a
bus
to
various
PD
locations
in
the
county
to
experience
a
crime
scene
investigation,
including
evidence
processing
and
forensics;
watch
a
mounted
horse
patrol
demonstration;
and
learn
about
vehicle
crash
investigations.
On
other
days,
officers
brought
hands-on
activities
to
the
school."Parents were so invested; we had four parent volunteers join us each day, and 20 parents were even able to attend for graduation," said Vicky Castro, social worker at Kilby Elementary, who helped the SROs coordinate the program. "The SROs developed the daily presentations and found community partnerships to provide lunch every day. They also provided funds for student t-shirts and paid for transportation. We are all very happy with the results."