MORE than 500 bay island students have received bicycle helmets courtesy of local police and volunteers.
Bayside District Crime Prevention, Volunteers in Policing and Police Liaison Officers teamed up with Bayside Police-Citizens and Youth Club to deliver the helmets to students in conjunction with a bike safety education program.
Funding was sourced by Bayside PCYC Branch Manager, Sergeant Tina Bowen who also organised visits to Macleay Island State School, Dunwich State School and Russell Island State School.
Each student had their helmet individually fitted and received certificates for completing the safety course.
A $23,000 grant provided by the Transport Department also covered a bicycle education program for a number of mainland schools.
Sergeant Tina Bowen said visiting schools and helping students was one of the most rewarding parts of her job.
"Not only is it about educating the children, it's also about making them safer when they ride their bikes, skateboards and scooters," Sergeant Bowen said.
"Special thanks also goes to 99 Bikes who also helped out by providing helmets worth more than the funding we actually had."
Sergeant Tina Bowen and Acting Sergeant Brendon Winslow also returned to island schools to deliver ThinkUKnow cyber safety presentations to all students.
The presentations - written and provided by Australian Federal Police for presenting to school children of all ages - cover topics such as social media reputation management, cyberbullying, online gaming, privacy management and identity theft.
