The Naperville Police Department, along with Naperville School District 203, Indian Prairie School District 204, and some private schools, recently celebrated the students whose artwork was selected for the 2025-26 Crime Prevention Calendar.
Elementary students submit artwork on safety themes
Each year in November, the police department invites elementary students from District 203, District 204, and participating private schools to submit artwork for their yearly calendars. Pamela George, one of the crime prevention specialists with the NPD who heads this process, explained that students have the freedom to be creative with their submissions, while remaining focused on messages of safety.
“We asked them to consider the safety themes that we talked to them about in the classes that we teach, third, fourth, fifth and in some cases sixth grade classes,” George said, “and then asked them to illustrate what that meant to them and how that might look illustrated in a drawing or a picture in some way.”
George said they got in about 250 submissions this year, sent from kindergarteners to fifth graders. Those included depictions of “stranger danger,” stopping pollution, and online safety.
Calendar marks city-wide effort for crime prevention
This year marked the 39th edition of the calendar, which began in 1986. George says the initial goal for the project was to encourage Naperville residents of all ages to keep the city safe, with the calendar serving as a physical reminder of this collaboration…