PROGRAM TEACHES CHILDREN HOW TO BE SAFE Keeping children safe is something we are all concerned about.
And that goes double for Franz Petitpapa. That’s because he has
dedicated his life to keeping people safe – he’s a Wilton
Manors police officer and the Broward County Public Schools School Resource
Officer of the Year 2003.
One of his many duties as a law enforcement and School Resource Officer at Wilton
Manors Elementary includes overseeing the Resist Aggression Defensively
(RAD) Program.
The RAD graduation is scheduled for at 6 p.m., Wednesday, January 14 at Island
City Park Preserve, 817 NE 28th St., Wilton Manors. Along with the graduation
ceremony, there will be a “simulation” where Officer Petitpapa acts
as a stranger and the children use what they have learned to “get away.”
The RAD Program teaches children how to protect themselves from strangers through
defensives postures and maneuvers. Some of the things the children learn via
the program include: learning what to do if they get lost; how to get away; defensive
moves; good touch/bad touch; and what to do if someone tries to get you into
their car.
This is the first RAD class for the city of Wilton Manors, with 13 students making
up the graduating class, and the program is quickly becoming a huge success.
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