An Open Letter to Gwinnett PD Chief Walters

Dear Chief Walters,

I wanted to make you aware of the outstanding job your crime prevention unit is doing to empower children and help them stay safe in Gwinnett County.

In March of 2012, under the leadership and guidance of Officer William Rooks, six Gwinnett County crime prevention police officers attended radKIDS National Instructor Certification training sponsored by Keep Georgia Safe. The officers trained included Christopher McGrath, Aaron Brinkman, Brandon Morris, William “Eric” Rooks and Walt Pollock.

These officers not only embraced the radKIDS personal empowerment philosophy and training, but took on the most ambitious plan I have seen yet to teach the program to children in the community. The crime prevention unit held four weeks of radKIDS classes over the summer consisting of two classes with separate age groups per day during the entire four weeks.

According to my calculations, approximately 240+ children were taught the radKIDS personal empowerment program by the crime prevention unit this summer. This is a very impressive accomplishment in such a short amount of time! These officers should be commended for their service and dedication to help protect children and families in Gwinnett County.

I would also like to personally thank you for your support of the radKIDS program and commitment to educating and preparing the children and families in Gwinnett County with the tools and skills needed to stay safe.

RadKIDS is the nation's leading personal safety empowerment program for children ages 5-12 that provides hands-on learning for children on how to recognize, avoid, resist and escape violence, bullying, abduction and harm. RadKIDS not only teaches them how to respond to these situations, but it also teaches them core principles that relate to many areas such as, "No one has a right to hurt me because I am special".

To date, over 80 children have escaped an attempted abduction using their radKIDS skills and thousands more have escaped the bullying and sexual abuse in their lives and received the help needed.

Best regards,
Mary Ellen Fulkus Executive Director of Keep Georgia Safe maryellen@keepgeorgiasafe.org