By KATHY HAGEMAN
Dickinson County public information coordinator
Dickinson County’s Emergency Communications Center, also known as 911 Dispatch, is pairing up with the National Child Safety Council (NCSC) to help coordinate the county’s annual Child Safety, Bullying and Drug Education program.
Through that partnership, the NCSC is contacting Dickinson County businesses seeking funds to purchase materials that will be used to educate children and adults on a variety of topics.
The materials include information on dozens of different topics, ranging from coloring books to activity sheets to brochures addressing topics like safety for children, kid sitting, human trafficking, safety precautions for seniors, and provides police badges for kids, stickers and more.
“The safety council provides training materials for public safety agencies and law enforcement agencies,” explained Emily Nichols, Dickinson County Emergency Communications director. “They didn’t have any contacts in Dickinson County and they reached out to me.”
Both Saline and Geary County have paired up with the NCSC in the past and Nichols said she has heard “nothing but good things.”
Nichols says her goal is to get the information out into the hands of the public.
“There’s just so much available. I was impressed by all the information. Just for the elderly they have things like internet safety, drugs and medications, health management and security, and scams like photo spoofing (where a caller deliberately falsifies information transmitted to caller ID to disguise their identity). Things that people don’t even think of,” Nichols said.
She also hopes that law enforcement agencies in the county will contact her to talk about information they would like to distribute.
“For example, Deputy Brandon Depew, who leads the county’s LEAD (Law Enforcement Against Drugs & Violence) program, can pick out things he would like to take to the schools,” Nichols said. “I think the information should come from people like Brandon, or Abilene School Resource Officer Kris Kobiskie. They are the officers the kids see every day. And I know Chapman is wanting to do a program where their officers get into the schools more,” Nichols said.
“The hope is to get the public better educated. In this day and age we live in, we literally have information at our fingertips, but nobody is pushing this out,” she continued.
Nichols also said she is willing to present information to local civic groups and organizations regarding topics of interest.
Letter
To help fund the cost of materials, Nichols said that she and the NCSC have sent a letter to local businesses seeking donations. The letter lists suggested sponsorship levels.
Due to the prevalence of scams nowadays, Nichols said anyone that might be concerned about the validity of the letter should call her at (785) 263-4041.
The National Child Safety Council is a not-for-profit charitable, federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the safety of children. Its mission is to prevent needless accidents and save lives by providing meaningful safety educational materials and programs for children, adults and seniors, according to the council’s website.
Nichols hopes to be able to help distribute some of the materials at various venues throughout the county.
“It’s too late to get organized for this year, but I’d like to hand out this information at the fair in Abilene and Herington next year,” Nichols said.
“Knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have the better aware you are,” Nichols said.