By Mary O’KEEFE

The Glendale Police Dept. will be hosting its open house on Oct. 19 and this year will be combining it with its popular Touch-A-Truck event.

“Since this is our first open house since COVID and we started Touch-A-Truck in 2022, we thought it would be a great idea to combine these two events. This allows the community to enjoy not only what the Glendale Police Department has to offer, but also showcases equipment and great work from other departments in our city,” said Sgt. Varooj Karibyan, GPD Community Outreach Resources and Engagement (CORE) Bureau.

The event will have a lot to do for visitors including meeting Brisket the community dog, watching a K9 demonstration, climb a rock climbing wall and check out a forensic crime scene activity for kids. There will be food served thanks to a donation of hotdogs from the Glendale Police Officers Association.

“We will provide department tours and [will have] tables in the community room where [visitors] can speak with detectives, forensic specialists, dispatchers and police officers,” Karibyan added.

In addition there will be patrol and motorcycle units on-site as well as an airship and SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) unit on display. But with the addition of Touch-A-Truck to this event there will be even more to explore.

In the past, the event had been held at the Elks Lodge 1289 in Glendale that hosted every vehicle imaginable including a school bus, fire engine, street/storm drain cleaning truck and garbage trucks. This year is no exception with vehicles from fire, Glendale Water and Power, parks department, public works, integrated waste, search and rescue and Gays Tow all scheduled to be at the event at the Glendale Police Dept. station.

The purpose of the open house is  based in community outreach.

“It’s an opportunity for community members to visit our facility and get to know the people who help protect and serve the community,” Karibyan said.

The open house and Touch-A-Truck events are at the Glendale Police Dept. station at 131 N. Isabel St. in Glendale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Food will be available beginning at 11 a.m.

Admission is free and so are the hotdogs!

For more information call (818) 548-4015 or email ATate@GlendaleCA.gov.