Long Beach City College students of different cultures and backgrounds enjoyed delicious ice cream at PCC thanks to the members of the student center with the help of volunteers and officers who have a goal of keeping students informed and safe.
Long Beach Police Department celebrated an ice cream Social day at PCC on Thursday afternoon to inform students about the activities they do in the community and teach the important roles that they play in the city.
The first spot was the ice cream place for those students who wanted to enjoy delicious ice cream. After getting their ice cream, students and teachers had the opportunity to play roulette wheel to win batches, water bottles, stickers and more.
The police unit from Long Beach constructed different spots next to the cafeteria to show their values and experiences that they have learned from different circumstances.
The most popular attraction was the Airport K9 Team. Every student wanted to pet Kala the German Shepherd who works for the police unit. Kala was the main attention for students since many of them had never touched a police dog before.
LBCC student David Buster enjoyed his first time petting a dog in these types of moments.
“I always wanted to pet a dog from the police department. I was scared, I thought they were mean. I love the idea of bringing the police to the school because we can learn a lot from them,” Buster said.
Kala is a detection-trained K9 out of Lackland A.F.B., Texas. She is assigned to the Long Beach Police Department, airport section. Her partner, officer Keith McCart, has over 22 years experience. Together they work every day to keep the community of Long Beach and the traveling public safe.
“Kala lives with me, I am her official partner. Everywhere I go she goes with me. I have to take care of her as she is my kid. She is a great dog, I love her,” McCart said.
McCart explained every single detail about the types of training the thousands of dogs have to do in order to become part of the police department.
“We chose this specific breed because they are big and people are afraid of them. People think these dogs are mean so we cannot train other dogs. It is a long process that they go through. Dogs train hard to become part of us. Humans have a great sense of smell but dogs duplicate that. I love my job and I love my dog,” MCart said.
The high temperatures did not prevent students from getting ice cream and taking pictures with the police’ cars. Officers brought their vehicles to show students how beneficial these vehicles are for them and students took advantage of this opportunity to take pictures inside the cars.
Maria Garcia was a student who attended the ice cream Social event. She is part of the Sociology program and mother of two kids who are also students at LBCC.
“I was passing by the cafeteria when I noticed that students were given free ice cream so I went with my friends. I think is important to bring the police department to our school because we learn how they protect us against bad people. I also go to LAC and I’ve never seen an event like this in the other campus. It would be fantastic if they make an ice cream social event at LAC,” Garcia explained.
The event ended up with all the police officers and members of the student center playing games.