South Lake Tahoe police officers connecting with kids at ‘Badges and Books’ program

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Through a partnership with the El Dorado County Library, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department has started a new weekly storytime series, Badges and Books.

Officers will be at the library in South Lake Tahoe each Friday at 10:30 a.m. starting June 21 to read stories for the youth in our community in English and the Spanish version, Libros Y Placas, every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Each storytime will last about one hour and is suitable for families with young children.

Badges and Books will help promote positive community interactions while also building vocabulary and listening and language skills for our youth. The kids will be able to chat with an SLTPD officer and learn about their role in our community.

“Often when children are exposed to police officers, it is during a time of stress or tragic experience as officers respond to emergency calls for service. During the chaos, there is not much time to build rapport with the youth on scene,” said SLTPD Officer Traci Trapani. “The community storytime is a chance for children to get to know our officers in a fun environment with time to ask officers questions.”