Officer Charles Wallace was a Minneapolis Police Department School Safety Patrol Officer in the 1980s.
In its November 1980 issue, The Wedge community newspaper published a feature on his recent visit to the Jefferson Elementary School.
Here is Wedge Reporter Janet Swan’s story:
Officer Wallace: “Where’s a good place to play? Your yard?”
Class: “Yes!”
Officer Wallace: A friend’s yard?”
Class: “Yes!”
Officer Wallace: A stranger’s yard?”
Class: “No!”
Officer Wallace: An old garage?
Class: “No!”
Officer Wallace: “A new garage?”
Class: “Yes!”
Then laughter, when the first graders realize Officer Wallace has tricked them into giving a wrong answer.
Safety in traffic, bicycle riding, playing, dealing with strangers, and Halloween are some of the topics covered by Minneapolis Police Department School Safety Patrol Officer Charles Wallace in his annual fall visit to kindergarten and first grade classes at Jefferson.
Eighty first graders sit with quiet and rapt attention while he goes over safety rules that seem to go in one ear and out the other when promulgated by mom or dad. Wallace’s friendly, positive dialogue with the kids reinforces reasonable and necessary precautions as well as a positive image of the police.
The good feelings are summed up by a boy who said as Officer Wallace left his class, “I wish he were my Dad.”
In the photo above, Officer Charles Wallace and his friends at Jefferson Elementary School. From L to R: Ceridwen Christensen; Alice Swan; Cedric Reason; Kevin Carr; Katie Hatt; John MacRae; and Michael Freeman.
Photograph and article from The Wedge of November 1980 courtesy of Hennepin County Library