1994 – The Yankton Police Dept. wrote and applied for a grant through the department of public safety and was approved in 1995.

1995 – The YPD presented the program to the city council and was granted approval to initiate the program.

The first two years were taught at the old middle school gymnasium (Walnut Village) 612 Walnut. It started with the Safety Town program ™ (National Safety Town Center).

Safety Town is a program for children that teaches safety lessons about fire, pedestrians/traffic, water, guns, and poisons/drugs. It is also the name given to a replica town created to instruct children about safety measures.

The Safety Town program was founded by Officer Frend Boals in Mansfield, Ohio in 1937 after a child was struck and killed by a car on his way to school. The "National Safety Town Center" was founded in 1964 by Dorothy Chlad in Cleveland, Ohio.

After several years it was decided due to the increasing program cost and the department wanting to customize the program they would no longer continue their membership with Safety Town. Since the department was not an active member of Safety Town to avoid trade mark legalities the YPD renamed their program Safety City.

Safety City was sponsored and operated by the Yankton PD. Eventually the program was picked up by the City of Yankton parks and recreation department and a program director instructs the classes with YPD Officers visiting the classes and assisting when needed.

Kayla Loecker, a Kindergarten Teacher at Lincoln Elementary School has been the program instructor for the last several years.

The classes all revolve around the main principle of “SAFETY”. The Safety Town program promotes safety through songs, poems, reading material and videos combined with actual practice.

In addition to classroom learning, there are organized field trips to various locations around the community to give children a hands-on opportunity to learn about safety.

The kids will visit the fire station to talk to a fireman about fire safety, to the Lewis and Clark Visitor Center to learn about boating and life jacket safety, to Lewis and Clark Lake to learn about camping safety, and to the Yankton Police Dept. to meet the officers and learn about how the officers work to protect our community.

Some of the things they learn that may be new to them, would be bicycle safety, fire safety, and gun safety or when it’s appropriate to call 911.

Yankton Police Department 
410 Walnut Street
Yankton, SD 57078
Phone: (605) 668-5210 - Non-Emergency