Officers, Students Join Forces To Clean Up Area Near Park

JOHNS CREEK, GA -- Officers with the Johns Creek Police Department on Thursday teamed up with local middle school students to clean up an area behind Shakerag Park that recently became a popular hangout spot for teenagers.

About 30 River Trail Middle School Junior Beta Club members assisted the police department's Community Response Team in removing debris and trash from the area, which is situated behind the Blackstone subdivision.

The students were rewarded with pizza from Alessio's Restaurant and Pizzeria following the cleanup.

Members of the agency's Community Response Team were notified about a month ago by a resident in the subdivision about a problem that appeared to have grown over time, said officer Jonathon Ware.

The wooded area situated between the park and neighborhood became a secluded gathering place for youngsters, who usually cut through the neighborhood to access the area, Ware stated.

As a result, the area became littered with trash, including countless water and soda bottles, plastic cups, sandwich bags, coolers, camp chairs, glass items, at least one mud flap from a vehicle and an indication that some drug use was taking place.

"You can tell they've been hanging out for a while," said Ware, who organized the project.

Due to the area's close proximity to Shakerag Elementary School and the use of the park's soccer fields by camp organizations, Ware said cleaning up the location in question became a priority for the team.

Ware reached out to Christine Wallace, a sixth-grade science teacher at River Trail and the school's Junior Beta Club sponsor, to see if there were any students she thought would be interested in the project.

Wallace told Patch one of the requirements for club members is to perform community service, so she felt this was the perfect opportunity for the students to fulfill that goal. She noted membership at the school club exceeds 100, but organizers limited participation in Thursday's cleanup to 30.

"Most of the students go above and beyond," she said, adding one student -- eighth-grader Samad Shaikh, 13, -- racked up 75 volunteer hours during the previous school year.

Samad was joined by seventh-grade students Sonal Churiwal and Adya Bahtta, both 12, in Thursday's cleanup.

The three students said they joined the Beta Club because they wanted to give back to the community. Those three students also said they felt it was their duty to spend part of their afternoon donning gloves and scouring the area for trash.

"If we take responsibility and help clean up, then others may be inspired (to clean)," Sonal added.

For Adya, she said in the long run that she hopes to be able to "make a difference" in the community she calls home.

Officer Ware said he hopes the project sends a message that police departments are always looking outside the box to solve community problems.

"Not everything has to end in a citation or a criminal justice involvement," he added.

---

Images via Kristal Dixon