Owensboro Police Department on Friday wrapped up its annual Camp K.O.P.S., an event designed to provide a fun and educational experience for rising 5th-graders from Owensboro Public Schools. Organizers say many of the children have never experienced an overnight camp or spent time with police officers out of their uniforms.
Camp K.O.P.S. (Kids Obtaining Positive Structure) is hosted at Camp Schafer in Pellville. It begins the Tuesday after Memorial Day each year and lasts through that Friday. The camp was started in 2008 by the late OPD Officer Sean Schlachter was.
OPD Officer Sal Castro, who is a School Resource Officer for OPS, has been volunteering with the camp for the last 7-8 years.
He said OPD relies on the school district’s Family Resource Centers to identify students “who they feel could use some positive structure.” He said they try to get four students from each OPS elementary school. The camp is open to boys who are going from 4th to 5th grade.
Campers stay in cabins and do numerous activities such as trivia, swimming, basketball, dodgeball, archery, fishing, and kayaking. They also compete in Pinewood Derby races.
“Jeff Johnson, who’s retired from OPS, helps us with getting the body of the cars,” Castro said. “He makes them and brings them out. The kids sand them down a little bit, paint them, and then get them ready for Friday morning when we have the race. We have a little competition where all the kids get together with their cars and race.”
OPD Sgt. Loren Yonts also helps with the camp each year.
“I had a great time with everybody here this week,” Younts said, speaking to the campers when they returned to OPD’s headquarters on Friday. “I hope y’all really enjoyed going to camp with us and enjoyed learning some new things and doing some new things. I think a lot of y’all didn’t know what to expect, and I saw several of y’all break through those expectations and achieve a lot more than you expected to achieve yourselves. I heard somebody say this was the best camp ever. I appreciate that because we put a lot of work into this to make sure it’s something fun for everybody.”
Castro said the camp helps the community see the policemen and policewomen in an environment outside of their uniforms.
“It’s a partnership with the community, letting kids know that we’re here to help but also giving them that structure they need as they grow up. We want them to know there’s a lot the world has to offer. They may not be able to normally go camping (and do some of these activities,” Castro said. “We want to do this for kids because it’s not easy being a kid, especially nowadays. We want kids to have fun, but through positive structure.”
Castro added, “You see kids in the beginning that are like ‘I don’t know if I want to be here,’ but by the end of the week they are flourishing like, ‘Man, I don’t want to leave.’ It’s just been really awesome to be part of this every year. It’s as much fun for us as it is for them.”
