Youngstown’s justice fair draws crowds

February 19, 2012 at 12:07a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Officer Ron Jankowski is used to questioning people, but was happy to spend part of Saturday fielding queries from a young audience.

“They get to see the lighter side of police work,” said Jankowski, who’s served 11 years with the Youngstown Police Department and is a member of its K-9 unit.

Jankowski was referring to the youngsters who came to Saturday’s fifth annual criminal-justice fair at Heart Reach Ministries, 211 Redondo Road, on the city’s North Side.

The free five-hour gathering, sponsored by Youngstown Northside Weed & Seed and Heart Reach, was to provide opportunities for residents to meet and foster positive relationships with criminal-justice and judicial officials such as police and corrections officers, as well as prosecutors, organizers said.

Event offerings included a puppet show, tours of a bomb-squad vehicle and a mobile forensics unit, a ministry service and a doughnut-eating contest. Crime-prevention tips also were available.

Several youngsters gathered next to Jankowski and his cruiser. Accompanying the officer was Jocko, his 6-year-old police dog trained to conduct building searches, detect narcotics and apprehend suspects.

One participant was 12-year-old Timothy Davis of Youngstown, a sixth-grader at Summit Academy on Youngstown’s West Side.

Timothy asked Jankow-ski a series of questions about his crime-fighting partner, including whether the animal is able to check school lockers for drugs and enter classrooms. He also was curious about the type of training Jocko received.

The boy also expressed what he hopes other participants will take home from the fair.

“I like going to one of these events because God is doing something in these kids’ lives,” observed Timothy, who’s also a member of Metro Assembly of God Church in the city. “I hope kids will take a Bible home so they can come closer to God.”

Timothy came with Alice Marshall, a Metro Assembly member and a literacy specialist with Heart Reach.

Another source of interest for many children was the YPD’s bomb-squad vehicle containing special detonation equipment, protective gear for officers and a motorized robot.

The reconnaissance robot has four cameras and a microphone to listen and communicate in a hostage situation, noted Lt. Doug Bobovnik of the YPD. The tool is used mainly in such situations and to approach suspicious devices, he continued.

“It can take the place of an officer and can hear, see and do everything,” with its capabilities, added officer Brad Ditullio, a bomb-squad member.

Six contestants, each with 12 doughnuts and more than a casual sweet tooth, had five minutes to eat as many of the treats as possible.

The winner was 14-year-old Marquez Thomas, a P. Ross Berry Middle School student who took home a plaque for having eaten nearly eight doughnuts in six minutes. He and another student faced off in a one-minute tiebreaker.

Heart Reach has a partnership with the city’s Operation Ceasefire, which reaches out to criminals and youngsters via police, social-service agencies and clergy, noted the Rev. Tarone Claybrook, pastor of Heart Reach.

The Rev. Mr. Claybrook estimated that about 700 people commit the majority of Youngstown’s crimes, so the approach aims to turn lawbreakers from crime while instilling in children positive choices.

Another reason much criminal activity festers is because too many people “sit on the sidelines and do nothing,” he said.