“There were a lot of people waiting when we opened,” said Kaua‘i Police Department’s Barry DeBlake Saturday during the department’s inaugural Touch A Truck event at the department’s headquarters.
“I’ve been doing this for at least three hours,” DeBlake said. “It’s a good thing I have a lot of training talking.”
DeBlake was an attendant with one of the KPD blue-and-white units that attracted numerous young hands curious to press buttons eliciting the different sirens.
Touch A Truck was KPD Chief Todd Raybuck’s idea of a community-engagement project, said Johnette Chun of the KPD. He did this kind of hands-on gathering while he served in Las Vegas, and it always drew a crowd.
Raybuck did not shy away from the crowd, instead taking a seat in the dunking booth that drew a never-ending line of ball-throwers, including Kaua‘i County Council candidate Mel Rapozo.
“I’ve gotta see if I can make it three-for-three,” Rapozo said, hefting a softball that dunked Raybuck on the first try. “I was at the Kekaha event last week and finished two-for-two.”
Relay For Life Team Sam Jacinto capitalized on the line of throwers, indicating that donations would benefit the American Cancer Society Relay For Life that has yet to set a date for the Kaua‘i event.
Touch A Truck brought out the KPD heavy equipment, including its armored rescue vehicle, the Mobile Command Unit, the bomb department’s robot truck and others, including a smaller quad-cycle item called a roadster that attracted a large number of keiki waiting to dunk Raybuck.
“It’s not a toy,” Chun said. “It’s a deterrent tool used to simulate what the road looks like when you’ve had too much to drink.”
KPD Detectives Hanson Hsu and Mikey Nii manned the department’s bomb unit that features a rarely-seen robot and its accompanying bomb truck. Hsu was kept busy explaining the different explosives to an audience whose interest was piqued by the recent incidents of domestic violence and mass shootings.
The police department’s inventory was augmented by the county Transportation Agency’s The Kaua‘i Bus, whose paratransit accommodations drew a lot of interest. The county’s Department of Public Works brought out its 18-wheeler and big dump truck. The Kaua‘i Fire Department brought one of its pumpers and the auxiliary tanker truck, where young hands could get a feel of some of the department’s equipment.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
