Police host community outreach event in Indio

Police in Indio hosted a public safety outreach event at Miles Avenue Park where people talked one-on-one with officers and handled some of their equipment.

“It takes away some of the mystique of what we do and who we are, and it’s great that our partners, the Palm Springs Police Department, and the Riverside County Sheriffs Department, were able to come out,” said Chief Richard Twiss with the Indio Police Department.

“With all the stuff showing in the news lately, like in Ferguson, it’s good that they are doing something like this in the community to be more in touch,” said Robert Sanchez, who brought his kids to the event.

“A lot of people my age taught their kid cops are bad, and there’s not to many people out there to teach kids that they are here to help you,” said Lydia Quinones of Indio.

One of the focuses of the event was teaching people the dangers of driving while intoxicated.

“One of the initiative that we are working on was creating outreach events where we can have the beer goggles out, where we can have the DUI trailer out, so we can educate our teens and adults on the dangers of drinking and driving,” said Twiss.

Along with information about driving under the influence, police were also teaching people about properly storing firearms.

“Gun safety is very important and if people are not aware of criminal storage of firearms laws here in California it gives us a chance to educate them,” said Twiss.

The event ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. This is the first year the Indio Police Department hosted the event.