AUGUSTA — The first-ever community safety day seemed to be a success on Saturday.
Augusta Police Chief Matt Jones said the day was about fun and education.
“It’s about bringing people out to get them to see what police work, fire and EMS is all about,” he said. “It’s about bringing the kids out to have fun and see our equipment, get to hang out and learn.”
According to Jones, there was a bounce house obstacle course, a fire safety trailer and police and fire equipment so the kids could learn more about police, fire and safety. In addition to the educational activities, kids could participate in games to win prizes and line up to dunk city officials in a dunking booth. There were also free hot dogs and drinks for families.
“Everything is free,” he said. “On the dunking booth, we’re taking donations for our K-9 program, but other than that, everything is free.”
Jones said he believed the day was very successful.
“It’s something we want to do again next year,” he said. “We’d like to see it keep growing, but we plan to do it again and hopefully, next year, it will be even bigger.”
During the day, Augusta Police Officer Ken Fuller and his K-9, Anson, gave a demonstration to the community on how Anson is trained to react to certain situations.
Fuller gave some history on Anson.
“Anson is 7-years-old. He came from the Czech Republic and was about 10 months old when I got him,” he said. “I’ve had him ever since. His initial cost was $13,500 and that was before they paid for my training to go with him. The number one thing with any police dog is obedience and control. I have to have total control over the dog or he becomes a liability. Anson is a little different, because he is very social. He loves kids and they can pet him. He doesn’t have a problem. When I give him his work commands, he’s a completely different dog.”
Fuller showed the crowd how some of the commands worked.
“All of his working commands are in German,” Fuller said. “I use English for some commands at home, but all of his work commands are in German.”
When the demonstration first began, Fuller put out several backpacks. One had marijuana hidden inside and Anson was commanded to find the one with the marijuana. Anson stopped at several of the bags to sniff before finding the bag with the actual marijuana inside.
“The person I told to hold these bags was supposed to separate them, but he put them all together, so the scent actually transferred to the other bags,” Fuller said. “He’s trained to smell the odor of narcotics.”
A man wearing a bite suit was also brought out for the demonstration, during which time Fuller showed the crowd how Anson would react.
One child, Adalan Gillian, said she dunked the police chief in the booth and spent some time talking to officials. She had previously been in the fire safety trailer at school.
“It was helpful, so if someone doesn’t know how to get through a fire, it is educational,” she said.
Gillian said she also enjoyed the K-9 demonstration.
“I thought the K-9 was cute and obedient,” she said. “It was very educational. The dog is well trained. I was surprised by the way he reacted. As soon as (Fuller) gave a command, the dog would go right for it. I learned a lot watching it.”
Gillian’s mother, Krystal Gillian, said she believed the day was good for families, and would bring her children again.
“They’re offering some wonderful things for the officers to get out,” she said. “The EMS, police and fire guys have come out to introduce themselves to the community. The kids are more likely to go to them with problems if they get to know them.
Augusta Mayor Michael Taylor said he was pleased with the way the event turned out.
“They did a great job,” he said. “I’d like to have seen a bigger turnout, but I think it went very well. I’d like to thank everyone who came and our volunteers and sponsors — everyone who participated to make this happen.”
