With so many children having to walk to and from school, it is necessary that our community does its very best to keep our youth safe. To make sure this happens, Boyertown EMS has teamed up with Kutztown Area Transport Service and many other ambulance agencies throughout the Berks County area to form Operation Safe-Walk.
Operation Safe-Walk is the response to many child luring’s and abductions that have been reported from several schools in Berks County. The purpose of the new campaign is to place ambulances in plain sight while children are walking to and from school. By doing this, it is hoped to prevent child abductors from approaching children and make it known that these children are being watched out for by officials.
Chief of Operations of Boyertown EMS Ashley Neubauer commented on the campaign by saying, “A big concern of ours is the community thinking we are trying to replace the police of Boyertown.”
Neubauer adamantly expressed that they are there not to replace the police officers, but to assist them in keeping our community’s children safe. The police officers patrolling the area cannot be everywhere at once. Boyertown EMS sees this as an opportunity to help cover more ground around town. If anything suspicious is seen, they will contact the Boyertown police as soon as possible.
When questioned about how effective this plan will be, Neubauer voiced, “As long as school lets out and no child is abducted, then it’s a success.”
While Operation Safe-Walk is not the primary job of Boyertown EMS, they plan on making sure they are out patrolling the area when children are released from school as long as they are not on any calls. The group of ambulance organizations plan to continue this operation for as long as they can, to ensure the safety of the youth in the area.