Law enforcement agencies across the state are preparing for their “I Got Caught” campaign. While on patrol this summer, officers will be looking for kids wearing helmets. If caught, a child may find themselves making a trip to a local Dairy Queen restaurant. Lieutenant Mat Murphy is with the Morton County Sheriff’s office.
"Basically, while we're on patrol and we happen to see young people wearing a helmet while they're on their bicycle, or skateboarding, or rollerblading, we will issue them a citation, which is actually a certificate for a small ice cream cone from Dairy Queen."
The goal of the campaign is to reinforce the need to wear a helmet through positive interactions and incentives from law enforcement officers. Due to an overwhelming positive response from communities, more than 100 thousand citations for free DQ ice cream cones have been issued to youth across the state since 2013.
"It's in conjunction with AAA, Dairy Queen, the North Dakota Sheriff's and Deputy's Association, and the North Dakota Vision Zero Program. Our goal is to give out 12,000 of these this year state wide. Hopefully, we'll encourage some safety and have some good interactions with those kids."