Title
Special Recognition - Where's Melnic? Downtown Scavenger Hunt
Recommended Action
City Manager Recommendation:
Recognition
Report
Staff Contact:
Lt. Paul Lower, Olympia Police Department
360.753.8410
Presenter(s):
Lt. Paul Lower, Olympia Police Department
Background and Analysis:
The Olympia Police Department (OPD) has significantly increased its outreach to the public as it further implements Community Policing principles. While information about crime and crime prevention are standard subjects for dialogue with the community, OPD also understands the value in introducing the police force on a more personal level. OPD wants to engage the public in non-enforcement situations, when interactions are less confrontational and more informal.
As OPD increased its use of social media in 2014, we found that the public engaged with us most readily when we highlighted our K9s and their handlers. Love for animals stretches across many boundaries. Our K9, Melnic, is especially popular. Thus, Melnic has been the focus of a fun event for children (of all ages) over the holidays, a scavenger hunt, "Where's Melnic?" Teaming with the Olympia Downtown Association, the Timberland Library, the Hands On Children's Museum and other community partners, the scavenger hunt will run in concert with Downtown for the Holidays. Various businesses have posters of Melnic in their windows. Participants are provided with a "game card" to record where they have found the posters. Once they have found five, they turn in their cards at the Police Department and receive a "pawtographed" photo of Melnic and an invitation to meet Melnic and his partner, Officer Wilson, at a special reception in February.