More than 1,000 Patrollers Celebrate School Safety

Minneapolis, MN (May 17, 2019) – Each spring the Minneapolis Police Department and AAA Minneapolis host the AAA School Safety Patrollers from Minneapolis for an end-of-the-year celebration at the Mall of America. On Monday, May 20, 2019, more than 1,000 Patrollers from 42 Minneapolis schools will come together to celebrate all the hard work they put into their patrols this year. To thank the Patrollers for their dedication to safety, Agent Berryman and the Minneapolis Police Department have planned this Nickelodeon Universe celebration every year since 2007.

“The AAA School Safety Patrol is important because safety patrol students are a key factor for the safety at the intersections before and after school,” said Agent Antoine Berryman, the School Patrol Agent and Coordinator for the Minneapolis Police Department. Agent Berryman, who has worked as the School Patrol Agent for the last 13 years, believes that effective school patrol training will help students develop goals, discipline, and a sense of community ownership and safety.

“Many students that have come through the programs I teach and help facilitate in the Minneapolis schools have made a 180 degree turn from their path before joining my patrols to after,” Agent Berryman said. “My favorite part is seeing former patrollers become Police Officers, Firefighters, and key members in the community, all because the AAA School Safety Patrol program gave them a sense of community service and pride.”

Since its inception in 1921, the AAA School Safety Patrol program has grown the be the largest safety program in the world with over 635,000 Patrollers from over 33,500 schools nationwide, with 150 of those schools residing in Hennepin County. In nearly 100 years, there has never been a fatality in Minnesota when the Patrollers were out on duty. The few close calls have all turned out for the better thanks to the Patrollers’ vigilance, which is definitely a cause for celebration!

For more information on the AAA School Safety Patrol Program, please visit AAA.com/SchoolSafetyPatrol. Reporters are welcome to join us at the celebration on Monday, May 20^th from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mall of America’s Nickelodeon Universe.

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