DAPHNE, Ala. — The importance of shared experience between students and law-enforcement officers has come to the attention of governments and education systems around the world—as proved by the invitation of a Daphne police officer to teach the “Play by the Rules” cooperative system in Ukraine during a professional development trip May 10-16.

In 2001, “Play by the Rules” was developed by the Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education as an innovative program that teaches state-specific laws, rights and responsibilities to youth to develop their sense of civic responsibility and to provide them with the tools they need to prevent crime, save lives and build safer communities, according to a Daphne Police Department news release.

The trip is intended to train Ukrainian police officers how to teach law-related education to students in their schools—to involve law enforcement with youth in a positive manner.

“Sgt. (Robin) Snider has specialized training in several fields of law enforcement—the most precious and influential part of our whole community are our children,” Lt. Jud Beedy, Snider’s supervisor, said.

“All of Sgt. Snider’s training is focused toward educating children to be good citizens—he teaches about saying ‘no’ to drugs, violence, bullying, and to play by the rules as well as other topics.”

“Sgt. Snider, being a police officer, reiterates to the children lessons taught by the kids’ parents and the school system about being a good and productive citizen.”

Snider said the lessons will benefit students in the future.

“This will be great for the students and the police to work together and learn from each other,” he said. “Ukraine students will now be able to learn their law to develop their sense of civic responsibility and provide them with the tools they need to prevent crime, save lives and build safer communities.”

Snider is especially pleased that he was asked to take part in the training.

“…it is a great honor—one has to be recommended to be a trainer,” he said. “It is never promised to any trainer that they will get a call to travel; I had to read my letter twice to make sure it was true.”

And others at the police department are just as excited as Snider, according to Beedy.

“We do not consider this a task but a great opportunity; Sgt. Snider works very hard at his job here in Daphne and around the State of Alabama with the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program,” he said. “We are proud of Sgt. Snider and consider this a chance for him to show off his hard work.”

“The fact that he is representing the Daphne Police Department to the world should make this community proud of him and his accomplishments because we here at DPD sure are.”