At the recent Texas Municipal League Annual Conference and Exhibition, held in Dallas, the city of Boerne was presented the 2007 Municipal Excellence Award in public Safety for cities of less than 25,000 population. The award recognizes the city for a project entitled “Safety Town.”

Police Chief Gary Miller and school resource officers Hector Hernandez and Jason Abbott, were on hand to receive the award in Dallas, and were again recognized at the Boerne City Council in mid-November.

The Boerne Police Department school resource officers partner with the school district to conduct Safety Town, a week-long orientation session each August for children entering kindergarten.

The program is designed to alleviate apprehensions the children and their parents may face on the first day of school. A miniature version of Boerne is set up in one of the school gymnasiums. Wooden structures are painted to resemble downtown buildings, and adjacent stop signs and crosswalks are added to teach bicycle and pedestrian safety.

The children take their first school bus ride and are taught about school-bus safety. Fire and EMS personnel also conduct safety awareness activities for the children.

Local businesses represented in the miniature town paid for the replica, the school district provides the facility, the buses and drivers, so the only expense to the city is the officer’s time.