Webster Groves police, community partners plan May 18 safety event emphasizing bike safety, youth outreach

Webster Groves police staff and members of the Police Community Engagement Board (PCEB) outlined plans on a recent meeting to host a community safety event on May 18 at the city rec center, soliciting volunteers and partners and discussing publicity, giveaways, and recording permissions.

The meeting, led by Vince (police department staff/leader), reviewed an event agenda that includes a safety presentation from Sergeant Flannery, a police media information segment, a short presentation from the newly trained Webster Groves bike team, a PCEB introduction, and a question-and-answer session. Partners listed to support the event include the Lions Club, the Webster Groves Police Officers Association, Sunset Cyclery and Red Bull. Food and beverages will be available on site, with Lions Club volunteers providing grilled items, the transcript shows.

The event is intended as a community-facing launch for larger outreach work and safety programming. “Bring 5 people. Get 5 people to come,” Vince told the group as a baseline goal, saying that if each board member recruits five attendees the event could draw “almost 50 people” and, with more effort, “a 100 people.” The group discussed targeting families and school groups to increase turnout.

Why it matters: the event is framed as a hands-on way to introduce residents to police programs (including a bike team) and to build momentum for later projects aimed at residents, students and local businesses. The police staff also noted a recent department milestone: completion of CALEA accreditation recertification for four years, which the transcript calls “the gold standard.”

Key logistics and promotion steps

- Flyer and social media: Tiara (city communications) is preparing a digital flyer; several PCEB members volunteered to support messaging and social posts using Canva and the city’s weekly Friday page. Vince said he will email Tiara with the planning group cc’d so the flyer and distribution plan can be finalized.

- Volunteer sign-up: the group agreed to create a shared sign-up (discussed as a Google Sheet) to assign outreach tasks (business windows, student groups, neighborhood groups) and avoid duplicated effort.

- Giveaways and budget: PCEB has a modest giveaway budget. Suggestions included T-shirts for children, low-cost coloring books and crayons, stickers (noted as especially popular with young children), refrigerator-magnet-style handouts with emergency numbers, and nonperishable safety items. The group emphasized avoiding perishable giveaways that cannot be reused. The fire department was asked about whether they could provide smoke detectors.

- Youth and school outreach: presenters reported a classroom visit to a high school government class that produced two students who volunteered to act as liaisons and to help raise awareness among peers. The presenters said school participation requiring use of the school name or distribution of flyers must receive principal approval and appropriate consent forms for photos.

- Recording and publication: the group debated recording the public event for marketing and recap videos. Participants stressed the need to check permissions: if the city records and uses footage for marketing, attendees must be notified and the city should clear any sensitive content with the chief, the fire chief and the city attorney. The city manager (Dr. Peoples) was identified as the official to consult about policy and consent requirements.

Other operational updates

- Staffing and budget: Vince said the department is “on the cusp” of being fully staffed, with promotional processes starting for captain and sergeant lists. He also said he will present the police department budget at the city budget meetings on April 15 and that the PCE budget appears as a single line in the packet.

- Future outreach: the group discussed a follow-up event focused on the local business community in the fall to address business-specific safety topics and relevant local ordinances.

- Draft protest/gathering rules and website FAQs: the meeting briefly noted a draft set of rules for protests and gatherings prepared by police staff and a question about whether city FAQs should be consolidated (some content appears both on police pages and city pages); board members asked to schedule a later, fuller discussion with legal input.

Traffic and other community coordination

Participants flagged the university’s upcoming commencement weekend and multiple ceremonies as a potential local traffic and parking complication on adjacent days and recommended plugging a heads-up into the city’s Friday page. The Lift Rock Inn Ministries food-bag distribution (noted as distributing roughly 100–125 bags) and ongoing food-donation partnerships were also mentioned as part of broader community outreach activity.

Next steps and follow-up

No formal votes or policy actions were taken at the meeting. The group agreed on near-term steps: Vince will email the flyer to Tiara and the planning group; volunteers will sign up on a shared spreadsheet for distribution tasks; staff will check recording and consent policies with the city manager and legal counsel; the fire chief will be asked about smoke-detector availability; and student volunteers will be invited to film a short recap. The PCEB will report its event plan to the council at the scheduled April presentation.

Ending note: the discussion emphasized low-cost, family-oriented giveaways (stickers, coloring books, magnets), clear messaging and distributed volunteer outreach to achieve the stated attendance goals while ensuring consent and legal clearance for recording and school participation.