Darlington Police gearing up for Project Intercept
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
The school year is winding down and the Darlington Police Department is already making plans for their second session of Project Intercept. The summer program is for rising third and fourth graders in Darlington.
Darlington Police Chief Danny Watson said that at that age children are at a tipping point.
“The reason that we are using that particular age range is because that is when you start to have different kinds of problems, whether it is falling behind in math or reading or possibly classroom behavior,” Watson said. “What we found with this particular program, it’s what you find with a lot of programs, the earlier you start, the better.”
Watson said that he thinks that it is important for the police department to have a program like this.
“It seems strange that we would have to be involved in promoting good behavior, especially at such a young age, however it is something that we feel like when you want to change a broad trend that is taking place, you have to approach it from the standpoint of let me get them as early as I can,” Watson said.
“The program lasts three weeks and it is interaction not only with law enforcement and SROs, it is interaction with other children.”
Having structure and a few learning opportunities even through the summer, children might be more prepared for the next school year.
“Teachers will tell you that in learning, we have a tendency to remember the first thing we learned and the last thing we learned; the in-between stuff kind of gets lost,” Watson said. “What they end up doing at the beginning of the year is rehashing a lot of the stuff they have already done. Any time you can continue to promote their brains being stimulated, you need to do that. This also gives them more time to be paid attention to, which I think is important.”
Watson said that after seeing good results with their first program, the Darlington Police Department wanted to hold it again.
“I like that we are able to interact with these kids who are on the cusp of they can go this way or they can go that way,” Watson said. “If you look at the numbers we had from last year and how those kids performed in school, compared to how they had performed the year before, it was a dramatic difference. The number of suspensions, the number of referrals went down dramatically. That is a big plus. When you are making a change that is success. Hopefully, we can expand this program overtime so that we can have more than one set of kids and do larger groups.”
During the program, children will work on study habits, how to be a leader, work ethic and having a healthy lifestyle.
Parents who are interested in having their student considered for the program can contact the school resource officer at their child’s school.