California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2018_Winter Magazine-FINAL | Page 19

No Tricks Here, Just Treats
Livermore Police Department Expands Community Outreach with Trick or Treat Trail
By Lieutenant John Hurd, Livermore Police Department
I
n 2015, the Livermore Police Department (LPD) was
looking for an innovative way to expand its commu-
nity outreach. Chief Michael Harris suggested open-
ing the department for a Halloween Trick-or-Treat
event, and the annual LPD Trick or Treat Trail was created.
This year we put on our fourth Trick or Treat Trail with over
3,000 community members participating. The Trick or Treat
Trail takes place one or two days prior to Halloween in the
evening from 5pm to 8pm.
Each year a committee of employees from throughout
the department starts planning the Trick or Treat Trail in
July. Each unit of the Department picks a theme and deco-
rates their area of the department. The first year we started
with a small group of enthusiastic employees decorating
the department. Since then, this event has become an all
hands-on deck activity with everyone getting in on the fun
and participating. The decorating begins about one week
prior to the event, and the department is transformed into a
Halloween wonderland.
The community of Livermore has embraced the Trick
or Treat Trail and enthusiastically talks about it being one of
the City’s highlight events of the year. The Trick or Treat Trail
is open to all children 13 years of age and under who are
accompanied by an adult. We encourage all guests to come
in costume. Guests start lining up outside the department
about an hour before the doors open. LPD’s 1954 Chevy is
parked out front and officers are stationed outside to greet
the guests. Groups of twenty are led into the lobby where
this year they were treated to “Night at the Museum” dec-
orations. The group is led into our community room and
they watch a short introductory video where Chief Harris
welcomes them to the Trick or Treat Trail and encourages
them to share their photos of the event to our social media
sites. After the video ends, volunteers and officers escort
each group through the department on the “Trail.”
Guests are treated to a wide variety of Halloween
themes as they travel throughout the department on the
Trail. This year’s themes were, Alice in Wonderland (Dis-
WINTER 2018 | California Police Chief
19