CIRCLEVILLE – The first ever LowDOWN event took place at Circleville Fire Department on December 18th for the Pickaway county area. dsaco (Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio) is a organization made up of people of all ages of Down syndrome, parents of children with down syndrome, professionals and health care providers. The group is a 501(3c) non-profit organization that aims at supporting assisting and educating people with Downs and people who have down people in their lives. The company operates in 23 counties in Ohio and is mostly volunteer based. dsaco reached out to Circleville Police department over the summer and wanted to reach out to the Pickaway County Community and start involving people of special needs into their programs. 
“We are really happy to put this event on with dscao and the fire department. Some of the kids that came out here today might not attend other kids events because of loud crowds and commotion, so we are happy to have a event that was inclusive to them,” said David McIntye School Resource Officer. 
On Wednesday December 18th Cookies and Cops LowDOWN will had a fun free event at the Circleville Fire Department and both the organization and the local law enforcement are invited people with disabilities and family to come and enjoy a meet and greet event with free dinner, cookie decorating, and fun with fire trucks and police cars! 
“We enjoyed partnering with the police department on this, we are fortunate to have a great working relationship with the Circleville Police. We have the facilities for a event like this, its a great opportunity for the safety forces to bond together and offer a outreach to the community. I think the kids really enjoy it also, seeing the trucks, making cookies, not so much the talking parts though, but it was really great I hope to do more stuff like this in the future,” Brian Thompson Circleville Fire Chief. 
The event started with a full turkey meal from Bob Evans, then it went on to cookie making, a tour of the fire house including fire trucks and police cars. The officers and firefighter demonstrated the lights and how thing worked on the cars. One firefighter suited up in his fire suit to show kids what he would look like if there was a fire and not to be scared of him. 
During the dinner officer McIntye talked about safety and handed out finger print kits. He talked about always taking a photo before a large event like the Pumpkin Show so if a kiddo gets lost police know what color clothes they are wearing and what the child looks like. He talked about a event that happened at Pumpkin show that they were able to actually see a lost child blocks away because of the outfit he had on.
