TISDALE 鈥� As part of a new initiative, the Tisdale RCMP will hand out a total of 70 free Slurpee coupons to lucky children in the community who their members see playing safely.
Some examples of playing safely include wearing helmets while on bikes, and safely crossing the street.
While this is similar to the existing positive ticketing program, Sgt. Wanita Minty, head of the Tisdale detachment said this is something different entirely.
鈥�7-Eleven actually just phoned us up and asked us if we would be interested,鈥� Minty said.
鈥淭he purpose is for positive ticketing to build relationships between RCMP and youth.鈥�
The detachment gladly took the tickets, and immediately began handing them out in the community.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking for kids just doing safe stuff.鈥�
Minty said one issue they鈥檝e been having has been finding youth to hand the tickets out to.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 get to see kids right now, we鈥檙e not at the schools, anything like that, so the bike park has been where we鈥檝e been circulating,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not actually seeing them all that often due to the COVID stuff.鈥�
So far only 15 of the 70 tickets have been given.
In a report to Tisdale council, Minty reflected upon an opposite problem happening for her when one boy, who knew about the program, made sure she noticed him biking safely.
鈥淚 was parked on the street, and he went by me with his bike helmet on three or four times and I tried not to make eye contact because I didn鈥檛 have any slushy things on me,鈥� Minty said. 鈥淗e was just coming up and down the sidewalk.鈥澛�
The tickets remain usable until December.
鈥淭hank you very much to 7-Eleven for giving us this opportunity to make these relationships with the kids, because we鈥檙e not getting to see them in the schools this past year. Hopefully when the schools open in September we鈥檒l be able to get back in there and give school presentations about safety and different topics.鈥�
