If you ask Tri-Village area residents what they enjoy about living here, one of the answers you’re bound to hear is safety.
Officer Hiles with the Columbus Crew Cat
While Upper Arlington, Marble Cliff and Grandview Heights sit at or below the national average of violent crimes, it is still important that residents learn how to protect themselves. Thankfully, both the City of Grandview Heights and City of Upper Arlington offer safety education opportunities on a multitude of topics.
In both communities, police officers and firefighters start educating citizens in elementary school and continue to educate and build trust throughout the rest of them.
“It’s just a continuation of the education that we’ve been doing with residents from what would be the very beginning,” says Brian McKean, training sergeant at City of Upper Arlington Police Division (UAPD).
This lifelong education model helps community members understand what is expected of them, in terms of personal safety measures and the eyes of the law, and what they can expect from their community’s first responders.
“We’re here to help (citizens) through certain situations, even the bad ones, we’re there to protect them,” McKean says. “If they need anything from us, we want that impression to start at a young age, to where they feel comfortable coming to us.”
Safety education programs
CPR/AED certification: Partnering with the City of Grandview Heights Parks & Recreation (GHPR), The City of Grandview Heights’ Division of Fire (GHDF) holds CPR/AED courses for community members. Once the attendees complete the class, they receive CPR/AED certification, valid for two years. In Upper Arlington, CPR/AED classes are held through U.A. CARES, a partnership between the city’s fire, EMS and police divisions.
Self-defense: UAPD holds a self-defense class and it may not be exactly what you’re picturing.
While citizens do learn how to fight back physically once an attack has started, McKean says the main goal of his self-defense course is to teach citizens how to recognize a threat before the violence starts. This includes creating escape plans and recognizing warning signs of aggression and abuse.
“We teach people how to be aware of their surroundings, how to be aware of themselves (and ask) ‘What are my capabilities? What am I going to be capable of doing?’ And so, when we take those things, we can then apply it to the awareness of our surroundings,” McKean says. “We also teach them how to recognize certain behaviors, I think a lot of times what happens is that people tend to use appearance to determine if someone is suspicious and so we teach them that it’s not really the person’s appearance that makes them suspicious, but it’s their actions.”
Bike safety: Partnerships between municipal divisions on programs and initiatives aren’t uncommon in Grandview Heights. After receiving feedback from the community, the City implemented a bike safety class where children and adults can learn cycling safety tips as well as how to share the road and how to safely cross the street.
“We had a group of people that said, ‘We have kids going to middle school and they’re going to be riding their bikes next year and we don’t feel comfortable, What can you do for us?’ and we have the ability, as small and unique as we are, to work closely with our fire and police to come together to form a program like that,” says Taylor Tobias, GHPR recreational superintendent. “I don’t think it’s something that Parks and Rec can offer on their own and we need the expertise from all the other departments to make it an appropriate program for what they actually need.”
Kid’s programs: In Grandview Heights, youngsters can participate in Safetyview Heights, a week-long day camp program that teaches children ages 5-7 basic safety knowledge and skills.
During the camp, attendees learn about topics such as fire safety, pedestrian safety and identifying themselves and their parents in an emergency. City of Upper Arlington has a similar program called Safety Town.
For older children, both cities offer babysitting classes which provide instruction on child safety, age-appropriate play, adult and child CPR, and more.
City of Upper Arlington also offers a home-alone class for kids transitioning into more independent roles.
Fire divisions in both communities make an effort to be present in the community to help children feel safe around them. Each year, the fire divisions visit elementary schools to show students their equipment and how to prevent fires.
“That way they know it’s still us inside that gear and not to be scared of it in a fire and run away from us, that we’re there to help and run towards us,” James Beckett, GHDF assistant fire chief, says.
When U.A. and Grandview Heights students first meet police officers in elementary school, they learn about basic safety and crime prevention. As they enter middle and high school they learn about the common laws and police procedures in common situations including traffic stops and search and seizure.
Citizens Police Academy: UAPD hosts a Citizen’s Police Academy program to connect citizens with officers to learn more about how officers handle situations and why.
“The way that we police in this country is the citizens police themselves so as a police officer I am a member of that group that is being governed, in a sense,” McKeane says. “When you have a structure like that, it’s exceedingly important that everyone knows how that policing operates because the authority that we have to police comes from those same people, right?”
Outside of the Citizens Police Academy, citizens can still contact the police divisions in either city with any questions or concerns.
Did you know October is fire safety and prevention month?
Go to www.grandviewheights.gov to see the events and activities being held through GHDF, GHPR and Grandview Heights Public Library, among others.
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
