The Lincolnwood Police Department continues its collaboration with the village’s Parks and Recreation Department, participating in a series of activities with summer campers that include the fierce “Dodgeball Showdown.”
Lincolnwood Police Department records clerk Sarah Yun told Pioneer Press that officers and other department personnel have played the annual summer dodgeball game consecutively since 2021 and also in 2018.
“It’s a fun time for us to interact with the kids in a playful manner,” said Yun, whose dodgeball team included Deputy Chief Travis Raypole, Lieutenant Eric Gronlund, Sergeant Luis Nunez, and officers Michael Pignato, Andy Bialek, and Raul Salazar, along with information technology specialist Christian Alcala.
Dozens of children participated in – and won – the nearly 45-minute dodgeball game July 9 versus the police at the outdoor inline skating rink at Proesel Park.
Yun said there were more players than the usual 50 or so, and campers were between the ages of 8 and 12 – mostly Lincolnwood residents with a smattering of participants from Skokie and Chicago.
“It shows these kids, starting at a young age, that police officers really are friends,” Yun said. “It helps kids see an everyday hero.”
Yun, a former camp counselor who grew up in Lincolnwood, explained that the fun of the Dodgeball Showdown can lead to youngsters trusting police in an emergency or scary situation.
She said the dodgeball game also offers police personnel a change of scenery.
“It gives officers an opportunity for them to laugh and enjoy the day, and interacting with others,” Yun said.
Yun collaborated with Kandice Newton, a Parks and Recreation Department recreation supervisor, for the most recent years of Dodgeball Showdown, and said Newton also helped with new collaborations connecting the police with about 80 campers this summer.
“Since we know the dodgeball games are such a hit, it was a good opportunity to show the kids what we do,” Yun said. “A lot of them don’t realize we have a drone or we have evidence techs or other specialties our officers have.”
After kicking off on June 25 with Gronlund and Officer Jesse Wienski talking about what a police officer does, and letting children try on bulletproof vests and check out a squad car, the collabs continued on July 9 with a drone demonstration by Bialek and Sgt. David Kramarz.
“Officer Bialek actually brought the drone up into the air to show it flying and the kids got to see if they could outrun the drone,” Yun said. “The drone is a wonderful tool that’s helped us find people when we’ve had a missing person.”
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The police and parks department collaborations were scheduled to conclude on July 16 with Officers Adriana Hernandez and Adina Soica, who are evidence technicians, showing how they process crime scenes and obtain fingerprints.
“Community is a huge part of our culture here in the police department,” Yun said. “We’re very community-oriented so whenever we’re able to interact with the community, we do. The summer is a great opportunity to do that.”
Jessi Virtusio is a freelancer.