By Alison McFerrin

The Selma Times-Journal

Fighting crime, taking down miscreants and enforcing the law are all just part of the job description for Selma police. But for the next few weeks, officers will add another public service to the list — collecting school supplies.

“We all know that if a child gets a quality education, the juvenile crime rate will decrease,” Sgt. Natasha Rozzell said. “Education is a deterrent for crime.”

To promote education and achieve those intended results, the Selma Police Department is starting its third session of P.A.S.S., Police Assisting with School Supplies drive, which was first initiated by the department in December of 2009.

“We gather school supplies and we pack the book bags full,” Rozzell said.

Last year, the department set a goal of filling 500 backpacks for local school children. They were able to fill 150.

“We hope to meet our goal this year,” Rozzell said. “This year we want to meet 500.”

To that end, the Selma Police Department will be accepting donations from local businesses as well as individuals until Aug. 15.

“We want to have enough time go out and buy what we didn’t receive from donations,” Rozzell said. “That’ll give us about five days to go out and get the rest of the supplies and also package them.”

The bags will be distributed Aug. 20 as part of a Safe and Drug Free Summit that will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the School of Discovery. Students must attend in order to receive the school supplies, on a first-come, first-served basis. This will take the place of the festival the department had last year.

“Of course we’ll still have all the fun, food and games that we had at the festival,” Rozzell said.

In addition to food, fun and free school supplies, local schoolchildren will hear presentations on bullying, gangs, leadership and respect.

To help the department meet its goal, you can drop off supplies at the Selma Police Department from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Items needed include paper, pencils, pens, binders, folders, glue sticks and scissors, as well as backpacks (pink or black). The department will also be soliciting donations at Walmart on Aug. 12.

Rozzell said she wants those thinking about donating “to know the importance of education and why we are promoting education to be a deterrent of crime.”

For more information call Rozzell at 375-1554.