Oak Lawn Police Encourage Kids to Strap on a Helmet with Free Ice Cream

Kids with bikes, watch out! This summer, the OLPD might catch you wearing a helmet, and if they do, you may get a ticket – a ticket for free ice cream. Yes, you read that right. For the eighth year in a row, the Oak Lawn Police Department’s bike officers are handing out tickets for free ice cream or a free donut to children who wear helmets.

The coupons are good at Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, at 10801 S. Cicero Ave.

This program, which rewards children for good behavior, gives officers a chance to not only promote bike safety but also interact positively with the children of the community.

“A lot of kids don’t wear helmets because they don’t look cool or it messes your hair up,” says Sergeant Jim Pacetti, school and community relations officer for the Oak Lawn Police. “We try to emphasize the importance of wearing a helmet and why they need to. If you fall and crack your head and wind up with 100 stitches, you’ll have to worry about a bad hair day the rest of your life now.”

Pacetti says officers enjoy finding the one child who’s wearing a helmet in a large group of kids who aren’t. Often other kids will ask for a ticket, but officers are sure to give tickets only to kids who wear their helmets.

“That’s why officers like to find the kid that does: because usually they get picked on,” Pacetti says. “By rewarding those kids for doing it, it hopefully encourages other kids that they should be doing it as well.”

This is just one of the many programs the OLPD has that reward children for practicing public safety. The department has been working for more than ten years with 7-Eleven on its national “Operation Chill” program, which rewards children with a free small Slurpee if an officer spots a child doing a good deed.

The department also presents many pedestrian, train and bike safety programs during the school year. This spring, officers visited nearly every elementary and middle school in the area to talk to kids about bike and pedestrian safety. The school safety talks included a video with tips about bike safety from BMX bike rider and Oak Lawn native Matt Wilhelm, which Pacetti says children seem to enjoy.

On the back of each ice cream ticket, the final line reads “Safety is no accident,” a phrase thought up by officer Dan Olson. Pacetti hopes that, through this program, adults and children alike will realize that safety is a conscious act, but also one that can be as easy as strapping on a helmet.