LYNNWOOD — Fifth-graders don’t ask the easiest questions.
On Friday, given an audience with troopers, sheriff’s deputies and city police officers, they lobbed inquiries about stand-your-ground laws, racial tensions, gun rights and penalties for kidnapping.
Each question got an honest — albeit family-friendly — answer.
Nearly 840 fifth-graders from the Edmonds School District participated Friday in the annual Law Day field trip to Snohomish County south district court in Lynnwood. Law Day, a tradition for nearly three decades, promotes conversations between young people, police, attorneys and court staff, Judge Jeffrey Goodwin said.
Fifth grade is a great age, and everyone “absolutely has a blast,” the judge said.
The activities are designed to spark an interest in criminal justice. On Friday, four sessions focused on a scripted mock trial, a “Jeopardy!”-style game, safety in the car and police dogs.
Seat belts create “a safety buffer zone,” and parents need to wear them, too, Mountlake Terrace motorcycle officer Eric Jones said.
He asked: What’s the first thing kids should do before they hop on a bike or scooter?
“Put a helmet on!” called out Joel Martinez, a fifth-grader at Lynndale Elementary.
Jones shared a story about his own daughter, who took a fall on her scooter without a helmet, despite his warnings.
At the doctor’s office, Jones said, it was Dad, not his daughter, who got in trouble.
Mountlake Terrace detective Heidi Froisland talked about Shane Santos, an 18-year-old who was struck and killed by a drunken driver in Marysville in 2012.
A student asked her how alcohol affects the brain.
“Your brains are still developing,” Froisland said. “You don’t want to kill your brain cells.”
The kids took turns wearing goggles that blur vision — meant to simulate one symptom of alcohol impairment— while trying to walk a straight line.
Lynndale fifth-grader Christian Paulos wobbled slowly down the line. He was willing his body to cooperate, he said afterward.
“I felt kind of dizzy,” he said.
Lynndale’s David Ramirez’ favorite part of Law Day was reading the mock trial script, he said.
“You didn’t know what was going to happen at the end, if the person was going to be guilty or not guilty,” he said.
In the mock trial room, a tiny fifth-grader attempted a serious face to go with his judicial robes.
The young jurors were guided out of the room for deliberation.
The defendant, named “Judy Student,” was accused of stealing a hat.
Ali Lebbi, a fifth-grader from College Place Elementary, played the bailiff. He was almost the same height as the judge’s bench. He summed up the case: “She forgot the hat was on her head.”
In another courtroom, students watched as Ronin, an especially fluffy German shepherd, sniffed around the carpet. Ronin’s handler is Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Art Wallin.
Ronin was picking up the scents of his fellow police dogs, State Patrol trooper Daryl Tolen said.
Tolen and his dog, Kobe, specialize in narcotics detection. The team looks for trunks filled with drugs.
“That’s all I do,” Tolen said. “I look for drugs and I look for drug dealers and I look for drug traffickers.”
Every year, organizers aim to keep Law Day interactive, Washington State Patrol Sgt. Chris Caiola said.
“Sometimes it gets a little crazy, but they’re fifth-graders,” he said. “They want to laugh and have fun.”
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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