2025 Summer Youth Programs
With the hustle and bustle of the summer season, we missed reporting on two noteworthy summer events and are including them here.
As a part of sparking youth interest in Denver Police Department and related law enforcement careers, the museum hosted 45 kids in third through sixth grade for an event that included mounted patrol officers, the bomb squad, community resource officer Tim Tran showing modern police car, and DPD retired Officer Barbara Cisneros showing the Museum’s historic cars side by side. Pat’s Philly Steaks and Subs provided hearty box lunches, which are a very important part of our programs. Many of the kids attending qualify for free school lunches and sometimes only have one meal a day.
A tour of the Museum was provided by retired DPD Sgt Christopher Hoag, who is very knowledgeable about the department history and artifacts shown to the kids.
Museum volunteers Sherry Dawkins, retired DPD Sgt Johnny Martinez, retired DPD Sgt Mark Chaffin and Charlotte Chaffin assisted in moving the kids around between activity areas and assisting the kids for the day.
The day ended with a visit from Deputy Chief Sanchez sharing his story and fielding a multitude of questions from the kids.
The museum also hosted a Traffic Safety Event for Kids, Friends and Family of DPD with support from Community Resource Officers John Silva and Tim Tran.
Museum volunteers and Retired DPD officers Joe Tennant, Barbara Cisneros and Christopher Hoag lead the classroom portion of the program, discussing what to do and not do on a traffic stop and what to do if involved in an accident.
The kids enjoyed a yummy lunch and snacks served by the museum volunteers Sherry Dawkins and Judie Meranda, then participated in mock traffic stops with Officer Tran and Silva, learning how to interact with officers and getting advice on best practices.
The kids also experienced the fatal vision goggles (aka drunk goggles) experiencing why you should not drink and drive, and having a laugh with each other using the googles during roadside sobriety tests.
The museum is scheduling programs for the fall, including our five core programs – SWAT, CSI, Police Tech, 911 and Law and Order. We are continuing our Traffic Safety Program with two programs scheduled in the fall. We would like to thank all of our partners who make these programs possible, including DPD Officers and civilians from many units at DPD, museum volunteers, Denver 911, Denver DA’s office and the Crime lab. Thank you to the many schools throughout the Denver area who bring their students to our programs. Thank you to all of our supporters.
