THE ACT’s longest serving police officer, Constable Kenny Koala returns to duty today (February 8) after an 11-month hiatus from schools due to covid restrictions.

He’ll be returning in style, going to schools and childcare centres in a new police car, driven by handler David Packwood. 

In a normal year Constable Kenny, who has been educating children for more than 40 years, would visit 1200 classrooms, teaching more than 25,000 children between three and 12 years old about road safety, protective behaviours, online safety, decision making and consequences, to encourage them to turn to police for help and advice. 

Constable Kenny and Mr Packwood say it’s been too long since they’ve been in the schools and that they’re both looking forward to sharing messages about road safety, protective behaviour, decision making and online safety.

“Our new kindergarten to year two ‘Stay OK Online’ component was only delivered to a few schools last year so it will be good to share those important messages with many more students,” says Mr Packwood.  

They’ll also be talking about the dangers in school zones.

“For parents who are dropping their children off, it can be a congested area. We do ask them that they stick to the 40km/h speed limits. They are there for a reason. They are there to protect our children and help keep them safe,” says Mr Packwood.

“Our kids are our most vulnerable road users and we need to keep them safe.”