Keeping kids safe is everyone's business

"Safety Towns are a proven educational tool because they involve the children in the learning process. In fun, safe surroundings, children learn to avoid needless accidents while developing good safety habits at an early age." - Sheriff Steve Prator

Safety Town, a 501(c)(3) corporation, is located at 8910 Jewella Avenue in Shreveport on more than two acres of property facing Louisiana Highway 3132. It includes an educational building with two classrooms, a Weather & Fire Safety House, numerous simulators, a maintenance facility, and a small town complete with scaled-down replica buildings sponsored by businesses and organizations in our community. It is designed to protect children by teaching safety skills and allowing them to practice those skills in a safe environment. A child-sized town with miniature streets, buildings, crosswalks and working traffic lights offers the perfect setting for bicycle, pedestrian and vehicular safety instruction.

Following classroom instruction, all Caddo Parish second graders will take a field trip to Sheriff's Safety Town. Here, miniature electric cars, bicycles, and pedestrians share the road as students demonstrate the safety concepts they have learned. The visual impact of Safety Town reinforces what the students learn in class. Safety Town is also available to children from other parishes and grades as time is available and is used as a location for other youth/adult safety programs.

Founded by Sheriff Steve Prator in 2008, Sheriff's Safety Town, located in Shreveport, Louisiana, is the first and only permanent program in the state to promote early childhood safety education.

Prior to being elected Sheriff of Caddo Parish in 1999, Steve Prator served as Chief of Police for the city of Shreveport. During that time, he promoted and expanded a two-week program the City designed to teach young children the importance of being safety minded, especially when riding bikes and walking in their neighborhoods. An added benefit was the positive interaction between officers and children that helped establish a strong relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

As Sheriff, Steve Prator has taken this vision to new heights, the result of which is Sheriff's Safety Town. This all-encompassing safety endeavor focuses on the needs of all citizens with particular emphasis placed on providing safety education to our youth. Through our primary program, we partner with numerous schools throughout Northwest Louisiana to provide safety awareness to students in participating schools. Upon successful completion of this curriculum, students visit Sheriff's Safety Town where they interact with law enforcement officers and other first responders and demonstrate proper safety behavior by applying what they've learned in the classroom. Students receive a pat on the back when they make safe choices and, of course, a helping hand when the decisions they make are unsafe. Simply put, Sheriff's Safety Town is a fun, exciting place where children can learn the importance of being safety-minded while demonstrating safe behavior in a controlled, safe environment.

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