NCJ Number
191779
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 49 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2001 Pages: 60-63
Date Published
April 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
"Beat the Heat" is a Cops and Kids community-policing program used by police agencies in 30 States and 2 Canadian Provinces to inform youth about the problems of illegal drug and alcohol use, drug-impaired driving, and drag racing on public streets.
Abstract
The program originated in 1984 with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department (Florida). Sgt. Don Robertson took an old patrol car (1978 Chevrolet Malibu four-door) and turned the car into a 10-second quarter-mile drag car with the help of many sponsors. The car was named "The Heat." Robertson took the car to schools in the area and encouraged a generation of youth to go out to the track to race there instead of in the public streets. He informed the youth that if they would go out to the track to race, the police would race with them. The program has succeeded in taking drag racing from the streets to the track and improving relationships between the police and the youth in the community. In the 1990's the program grew to a national and then an international program. Every year Beat the Heat, Inc., holds a national championship racing event in which the cops battle with each other and crown a racing champion. In 1999, Beat the Heat, Inc., associated itself with the National Street Car Association (NSCA), whose principles are closely aligned. NSCA provides a place for street racers to get off the street and on the track. In 1999 members of Beat the Heat, Inc., participated in over 750 events in front of over 1.3 million youth. During 2000, Beat the Heat reported over 600 events and again contacted well over 1 million kids. Less than 10 percent of those events were drag races. The program operates without any tax-dollar expenditures.