Not a trick: Officers will offer treats

October 29, 2009

Patti Dozier The Times Enterprise Thu Oct 29, 2009, 09:05 PM EDT

THOMASVILLE — One way to get children to pay attention is to promise them candy. That was the method a Thomasville police officer used this week to get the attention of students in ThomasvillAe city and Thomas County schools.

Officer Penny Hembree provided students in pre-K through third grade with Halloween safety tips. She told them if they remembered the tips and could recite them to a police officer while trick-or-treating Saturday night, a reward would be forthcoming.

Police have 600 bags of candy to give children on Halloween.

“The children have to give them a tip for a treat,” Hembree explained. “I tell them they have 600 bags of candy, and one has your name on it.”

She also shows youngsters costumes and masks and allows them to point out why the items are not safe. Students and teachers donned costumes that sometimes evoked screams among pupils.

“Face paint is probably the safest,” Hembree said. “You don’t have things over your eyes.”

The officer urges children to trick-or-treat in areas where they know people, to stay in familiar neighborhoods and to go to houses where lights are on.

“There could be bad people out there to hurt us,” she warned the students.

Hembree said children should never go into a house to get treats. “Always use the front door,” she said.

Hembree and a Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputy distributed reflective trick-or-treat bags to be used on Halloween.

Motorists should practice extreme caution Saturday night as ghosts and goblins travel about in search of sweet bounties.