Kids Get a Look Inside City Government

Students from Norcross Elementary School took a field trip just down the street on Friday, joining a few other community members to get a behind-the-scenes peek at how their government works.

Groups of classes in matching t-shirts saw a K-9 dog in action, watched as their teachers were lifted 65 feet in the air in an bucket truck and met the local judge, among other eye-opening activities designed to show them how the wheels and levers work in the City of Norcross.

K-9 Officers Todd Bureta and Craig Dallape stole the show with their showmanship with two police dogs. “How’s my dog going to catch a bad guy if he doesn’t have arms?” Bureta asked a first grade class. In unison, they shouted back, “His teeth!”

The officers say the dogs, which live with the officers and spend 24 hour a day their company, just love this day. “Their favorite thing to do is bite,” said Dallape after leading a demo with the dog attacking his arm, which was protecting by a thick sleeve.  Some first-grade students moved forward to brush the dog’s fur with glee while others stood back with a little doe-eyed reserve.

Nearby, firefighters slid open the side compartments of their fire truck, to the students’ “oohs” and “ahhs.”  One firefighter unveiled some “secret compartments” on the truck, popping open a door with an extinguisher in it that looked like a panel of the car.

Marty Bryant and John Bird put on a show right in front of the City Hall entrance with their Norcross Power “bucket truck.” A couple of teachers per group climbed in to the white bucket attached to the arm then were lifted about 65 feet in the air as the student literally jump up and down with delight.

The SWAT demonstration was still interactive, but with a more serious tone, as the students stared at a display of heavy-duty gear laid out across a table. “We got up before 4 a.m. to get a bad guy this morning,” Officer Evan Tantum told a tightly nestled crowd, who kept their wide eyes fixed on his weapon.

“There’s a lot of fascination with the gun,” Tantum said. “But that’s the thing I use the least.”