Lima Police Lieutenant Aaron Rode explains, « We have to be known as more than a uniform and I know it’s hard because a lot of the times our interactions with pubic service are negative. But we’re people too, we families outside of this job, hobbies, we like all the same stuff that everyone else does. Doing an event like National Night Out gives an opportunity to say, how’s your family, where do you go to school, what are the types of things you’re interested in? It gives us the time to have a discussion and an opportunity to get to know each other.”

A survey was taken Thursday morning as they took note of how many people were wearing their seatbelts as they passed by. It only took an hour to count nearly 700 vehicles that passed by the corner of High and Jackson near the entrance to Lima Senior. It was all to reinforce that seat belts are your easiest defense to avoid injury in the event of a crash.

With warmer temperatures comes outdoor activities and the Lima Police Department wants to remind residents about a certain safety concern they…

You are invited to join LPD officers at “Our Town Roast” in Lima’s Town Square for a cup of coffee and conversation. It’s a chance for residents to speak with law enforcement in a casual setting about any concerns and a chance to see one of the new businesses located in the square.

Sergeant Aaron Rode with the LPD explains,” You’re not underage drinking. If someone’s asking for your I-D at the establishment you’re providing that I-D. And it also comes back as a 50/50 split between us and the bars. The bars also have some responsibility in this as well to make sure they are checking I-D’s. If they have a metal detector at the door that they are appropriately staffing the metal detector. Things like this stop the police from ever having to come out in the first place.”

The Lima Police Department and the Department of Community Development partnered up Tuesday in order to reward drivers with special holiday gifts. Sergeant Aaron Rode of the Lima Police Department spent his lunch break pulling over safe drivers to hand them specially wrapped gifts in order to thank them for following the rules of the road.

Lima residents connected with the Lima Police Department during the Coffee with a Cop program. Held at the Vibe Coffeehouse on Market Street, officers were able to sit down and have casual conversations with the people they protect and serve.

The department is posting educational information about parking within the city of Lima. Currently, they have been getting complaints from city crews about cars not moving so they can plow. During the rest of the year, they receive complaints about parking in yards, on tree lawns, and sidewalks. There are also concerns about parking on the wrong side of the street. Most of these are finable offenses in Lima’s Codified Ordinances but the LPD hopes to get matters settled before it comes to that.

The Lima Police Department with the assistance of Shawnee Township Police will be increasing daily and nightly patrols around the TB Hospital. Officers will even be patrolling on foot. Through monitoring, almost 600 people have visited the abandoned hospital in the last 30 days. 102 were there over the weekend.

The Lima Police Department is reminding the public the laws about shooting off your own fireworks. The department has been and will continue to use their social media through the holiday to remind you it is illegal to shoot off fireworks in the state of Ohio. Sgt. Aaron Rode said LPD is actively enforcing the law and will respond to every call they get about firework use. Rode said they won't only respond, but will address anything needed and may issue citations. On Tuesday night, they had 15 calls of that nature. He said the Star Spangled Spectacular may make getting to calls a bit harder, but it will get done.