Behind the Badge
While hiking on a mountain trail, stumbling upon a native American arrowhead or meeting up with the type of furry creatures not seen in pet shops are both distinct possibilities.
Sometimes, if you’re super lucky, so is panning for gold and handling crystallized colorful geode rock – or getting to ride shotgun in a Jeep 4 X 4 over rugged, bumpy terrain.
Girls from the Anaheim YMCA pan for pyrite as they learn how prospectors panned for gold in the mountains.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
“It was very bumpy and wiggly,” says Xoachitl, a 10-year old girl from Anaheim.
A typical Anaheim kid rarely, if ever, gets to connect so intimately with nature as a group of youngsters, including Xoachitl, recently did during an excursion to Camp Conrad-Chinnock, 6,000 feet up in the San Bernardino Mountains.
Anaheim PD Officer Brian Bonczkiewicz gives a demonstration for the kids at Camp Conrad-Chinook with his K9 partner, Ivan.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
The kids are part of the Anaheim Police Department’s Cops 4 Kids (C4K) program.
For more than 20 years, C4K and the Anaheim YMCA have taken groups of youngsters to the rustic setting as part of the “Kids on Public Land” program.
Ivan, a K9 with the Anaheim PD, gets rewarded with his chew toy as he and Anaheim PD Officer Brian Bonczkiewicz put on a demonstration for the kids.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
“It’s great being out with the girls because this is their first time being out with nature,” said APD Det. L.C. Cashell, who chaperoned the C4K group. “It was actually fun just seeing them. They were excited just from the ride.”
The boys made the trip on Sept. 21 and the girls went Sept. 22.
Girls from Anaheim PD’s Cops-4-Kids and Anaheim YMCA gather at Camp Chinook as Anaheim PD Officer Brian Bonczkiewicz puts on a demonstration with his K9 partner, Ivan.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
“Having this opportunity to come out here with these volunteers who have this knowledge of nature is tremendous for these kids,” said Anaheim Police Chief Jorge Cisneros, who joined part of the excursion for the first time this year.
“It’s great to come out to nature.”
Anaheim PD Officer Brian Bonczkiewicz takes questions from the girls in the audience during his K9 demonstration.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Now-retired APD officer Tim Crawford, an off-road enthusiast, formed the C4K program 22 years ago. One day, Crawford was sitting around with fellow offroaders, talking about how cool it would be to bring some Anaheim kids up to the mountains for a day.
Crawford took the idea back to the top brass, who were 100-percent behind it.
Ivan, a K9 with the Anaheim PD, proudly wears his police badge while on stage during a demonstration with Anaheim PD Officer Brian Bonczkiewicz for the kids at CampCamp Conrad-Chinook.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Anaheim PD Cpt. Frank Hale, who also took the trek up the mountain this month, said he takes his own children on trips in the outdoors, but he realizes not every kid is fortunate enough to get the opportunity.
“For a lot of these kids, it’s the first time,” Hale said. “When you look at the expression on these kids’ faces, and you see how joyful they are, it’s a neat opportunity, something that we should not take for granted.”
Rick Bruna, a volunteer from the Mountain Top Amateur Radio Association (MTARA) cuts open a geo stone to show the girls what was formed inside.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Girls from the Anaheim YMCA gather to get a close look at a geo stone that was just cut in half to reveal the crystals inside.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Girls from the Anaheim PD’s Cops-4-Kids are treated to a lunch in one of the cabins at Camp Camp Conrad-Chinook.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Kids from Anaheim PD’s Cops-4-Kids gather around a spray water into an Erosion Table as they learn how rain water changes and shapes a mountain landscape at Camp Camp Conrad-Chinook .
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Volunteer Diana Bruns shows girls how to read the story rocks tell us by learning about how they were formed during a geology lesson at Camp Camp Conrad-Chinook .
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Girls from Anaheim’s YMCA learn how to pan for gold, or in this case pyrite, at Camp Camp Conrad-Chinook .
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Kids pan for pyrite as they learn how to pan for gold at Camp Camp Conrad-Chinook .
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Marilynn Jordan, left, a volunteer from Camp Conrad-Chinook , works with kids from Anaheim’s Cop-4-Kids as they pan for pyrite.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Members of Anaheim PD’s Cops-4-Kids program learn how to pan for gold by panning for pyrite at Camp Conrad-Chinook in Angelus Oaks.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Anaheim PD Det. LC Cashell helps a girl as she looks for pyrite that settled at the bottom of a pan whole learning how to pan for gold at Camp Conrad-Chinook.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Anaheim PD Det. LC Cashell tries her hand as panning for pyrite at Camp Conrad-Chinook.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Kris, a volunteer from Camp Conrad-Chinook, talks to the Anaheim PD Kids-4-Cops girls about the pine trees in the area and the types of pine cones they make.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Volunteer Susan Scullin takes the girls on a nature walk as she talks about what the Native Americans who use to live in the area use to gather for food.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Volunteer Susan Scullin shows the girls from Anaheim PD’s Cops-4-Kids a 500-year-old Incense Cedar that grows in the area while on a nature hike at Camp Conrad-Chinook.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
Volunteer Susan Scullin has the girls link arms as they try to circle a 500-year-old Incense Cedar during a nature hike at Camp Conrad-Chinook.
Photo by Steven Georges/Behind the Badge
