Fair brings police, neighborhoods together

Photo By Cpl. Monica Erickson | Cmdr. Tim Tompkins, of the California Highway Patrol, speaks with families during the PMO Family Fun Fair May 7 at Felix Field. The fair promoted a new neighborhood watch program for the Combat Center.  

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

05.14.2010

Story by Cpl. Monica Erickson 

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

Fair brings police, neighborhoods together

"When bad guys come, the police put them all in jail."

This was 3-year-old Chloe Shawhan's assessment of a military police officer's job as she listened to members of the Combat Center's Provost Marshal's Office Special Reaction Team during the PMO Family Fun Fair May 7 at Felix Field.

The fair's primary purpose was to promote a new neighborhood watch program PMO is putting together to help keep Combat Center families safe while residing within military housing.

Staff Sgt. Anthony Fox, the physical security chief for PMO, said the opportunity to teach the Combat Center community about PMO and other local law enforcement agencies, such as the California Highway Patrol and the National Park Services, was an added bonus to the fair.

The CHP booth featured give-away safety items for children, which explained the importance of safety while riding a bicycle and skateboard, or simply walking down the street. They also provided safe-driving tips and information on the consequences of drunk driving.

Military working dogs and their handlers had their time in the spotlight with a demonstration on how trained K-9s take down suspects and sniff out drugs and explosives. Each demonstration drew shouts for encores from a packed crowd in the bleachers.

The SRT Marines held their own demonstration about one of their primary functions aboard the installation - hunting down scrappers, or people who sneak aboard the Combat Center's training ranges searching for scrap metal to sell.

One other crowd-pleaser featured was a seatbelt convincer, which allowed adults to safely experience the impact of a low-speed collision using a machine that simulates the jar of a sudden stop from 15 miles per hour.

While nobody was at risk for injury, the resulting force of slamming against the machine's seatbelts did leave a few bruises.

For more information on how to participate in the upcoming neighborhood watch, contact Carey McElroy, a physical security specialist at PMO, at 830-5457.

To connect to and interact with the Combat Center, log on to our Facebook page.

• Date Taken: 05.14.2010
• Date Posted: 05.14.2010 17:38
• Story ID: 49697
• Location: TWENTYNINE PALMS, CALIFORNIA, US