DuPage County Celebrating Safety Saturday Today

Sheriff John Zaruba and the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office will host the Safety Saturday fair today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the DuPage County Fairgrounds on Manchester Road. The fairgrounds are located just east of County Farm Road in Wheaton. The event will be held rain or shine, according to a media announcement from the Sheriff's Office.

Zaruba started Safety Saturday to heighten public awareness about safety and to promote positive interaction between emergency service organizations and DuPage County residents. Exhibits are geared to be both fun and informational, as well as teach families about safety and crime prevention. 

Divisions of the Sheriff’s Office, as well as many DuPage County municipal police and fire departments will sponsor exhibits.  The Sheriff’s Office S.W.A.T. team will be there along with K-9 Unit, B.A.T.T.L.E. auto theft task force, Fire Arson Task Force, Hazardous Devices Unit and Community Resource Unit. B.E.R.T and E.R.N.I.E., the Sheriff’s hummer and armored personnel carrier, will also be on display.

This year Cadence Central DuPage Hospital and Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital also will participate in Safety Saturday.

Shuttle buses will be on hand to take visitors to the nearby DuPage County Jail and DuPage County Crime Laboratory, where tours will be provided throughout the day.

"We want kids to have fun while they are learning about safety,” said Zaruba.  “Safety Saturday is a great way for families to spend time together and interact in a positive way with police officers and emergency personnel."

In keeping with the safety theme of the event, personnel from the Sheriff’s Office will be handing out Sheriff’s Child ID Kits. The ID kit combines DNA collection and fingerprinting into one complete kit for easy storage for parents who have children under the age of 13 or caretakers of the elderly with afflictions that may cause them to become missing. The kit contains a sterile swab, easy to understand instructions on how to take a DNA sample, and ink strip so fingerprints can be taken.

Child safety seat checks also will be available during the event. McGruff the Crime Dog will be at the fair to hand out balloons, Halloween bags and other items to children. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

Admission to Safety Saturday is free. Groups are welcome.  For more information, please call (630) 407-2010 or visit the DuPage County Sheriff's Department website at www.dupagesheriff.org, and click on the link for Safety Saturday.

*The above was a media announcement from the DuPage County Sheriff's Office.