JUPITER, Fla. — Multiple law enforcement agencies joined together in Jupiter today for an autism awareness parade.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue joined Jupiter police, Tequesta police and Juno Beach police for a parade of their vehicles at the L Center of Excellence.
160 kids from the school enjoyed seeing the various police vehicles, motorcycles, unmarked traffic units, fire trucks, patrol cars, and even the horses from PBSO's mounted unit.
"This is the first year that we actually held this event and it's all because of COVID-19. Typically Jupiter police department comes into the L school frequently throughout the year, and unfortunately due to COVID we've had to kind of take ourselves out of the school," said Diana Zeitz with Jupiter police. "During the year we will actually do tours. We bring our police officers in here to interact with the kids. That's beneficial for both sides - for the police officers to interact and learn about individuals with autism, and then there's also the other factor that the adults and kids with autism, they actually get to feel comfortable and build relationships with the police that work in their area."
About 25 vehicles from the different agencies participated in the parade.
Zeitz said the kids loved the parade.
"They made signs for us saying they appreciate us. Thank you signs. The smiles and the staff said how excited they were, that they were just screaming with joy," Zeitz said. "Seeing 25 vehicles all with lights on and everything... seeing horses and fire trucks. You can't beat it, so it was really exciting for them."
April is autism awareness month.
Jupiter police department has an autism-themed patrol car and a special needs registry at the station. Plus officers wear autism patches on their uniforms during the month of April.