King County Sheriff’s Office Captain and Maple Valley Chief of Police Michelle Bennett, Washington State Patrol Trooper Renee Padgett and Seattle Police Department Detective Kim Bogucki all work as police officers in the greater Seattle area of Washington state and live in the Maple Valley area. A few years ago these officers, who have been friends more than 15 years, started their own original and creative programs to assist citizens in need.
Even though they started their projects individually (and without knowledge of the other’s programs), they have since relied on each other’s skills to enhance and support them in as many ways possible.
Michelle Bennett
Bennett has worked for the King County Sheriff’s Office for 20 years. In 2007, Bennett started work on a program to focus public attention on the growing problem of electronic bullying in secondary schools (a recent study showed at least 1-in-4 children is harassed online or via text message). The program, “Take a Stand Against Cyber-bullying”, is a designed to empower citizens, parents, students and staff to stamp-out bullying whenever and wherever it occurs. The program suggests several courses of action, including legal and enforcement angles, in order to address the growing problem of bullying by electronic means. Bennett’s 2008 doctoral dissertation also focused on bullying intervention programs in secondary schools.
Seattle Police Department Detective Kim Bogucki started the “If” project to create positive change in the community.
Courtesy photo
Kim Bogucki
Bogucki has been a member of the Seattle Police Department for more than 21 years. In 2004, she became a member of the agency’s “Community Outreach Unit.” Bogucki joined this unit in order to form a closer bond between Seattle police officers and the people they serve. In 2008, she started the “If” project to effect positive change in the community. The project started as a question posed to women prisoners at the Washington State Correction Center for Women. The question, “If there was something someone could have said or done that would have changed the path that led you here, what would it have been?”, is meant to gain insight into the root cause that led to their incarceration. For the children of the adults that make up part of the state’s estimated 7.3 million offenders in prison, jail, probation or parole the stakes are high. Without intervention, there is a 70 percent chance that these children will end up in prison just like their parents. To help prevent this, an education campaign comprising of over 240 essays have been collected from the women inmates. An independent film on the topic is also near completion and a school curriculum is in development.
Seattle Police Department Detective Kim Bogucki started the “If” project to create positive change in the community.
Courtesy photo
Renee Padgett
Padgett, currently assigned to the Commercial Vehicle Division in King County, has worked for the state patrol for more than 19 years. In 2005, she began work on an innovative new program called “Homeward Bound.” The purpose of the program was to help locate and bring home some of the approximately 23,000 children that are reported missing in the state each year. Her vision was to put large photographic images of missing children on the side of commercial semitrailers that travel some of the millions of interstate miles each year. The highly visible nature of these trucks helps bring attention to both specific cases and the overall problem of missing children. To date, more than 100 semitrucks have carried the pictures of 19 missing children across the roadways throughout the United States and Canada. Three missing children featured in the program have been recovered so far.
• Websites
Homeward Bound: www.wsp.wa.gov/crime/docs/mupu/homward_bound.pdf
The “If” Project: www.theIfProject.com
Editor’s note: This article posted courtesy the Washington State Patrol Magazine and was written by Trooper Renee Padgett and all 3 are from the greater Maple Valley area.
