1,300 students participate in Drug Store program

The Ponca City Police Department finished its Drug Store presentation with nearly 1,300 students in 5 ^th , 6 ^th and 7 ^th grades going through the program. They were from Ponca City, Peckham, Blackwell, Kildare, St. Mary’s, McCord and Lutheran schools.

The students were split into 40 groups and saw video of an actual early morning drug arrest and a training exercise. Officers also showed slides of drugs and paraphernalia, along with before-and-after photos of actual meth users.

Officers Lt. Clint Wood, Sgt. Fabron Porter and Corp. Cory Vincent took turns presenting this part of the program.

Corp. Ben Garrison and K-9 partner Blitz alerted to a student in each of the 40 groups with concealed drugs as part of the dramatization. Patrolman Trey Thompson handcuffed the student each time and led the students to face the judge. Students going through the dramatization believed it was reality when Blitz pointed out the wayward student in each group.

Department spokeswoman Sherry Bowers, who worked on the committee that planned Drug Store 2015, said Corp. Manny Lara was key to coordinating students in some of the scenes played out to show the consequences of bad decisions.