Schuylkill County District Attorney, James P. Goodman, Tamaqua police officers, and officers from other police departments held the "Shield 7" program for Tamaqua Middle School seventh grade students in the middle school gym. All schools throughout Schuylkill County take part in this program. The "Shield 7" program is a proactive approach addressing decision making issues pertinent to youth in the county.

The program, which is designed and implemented by Goodman, Chief Jeffrey Walcott of Schuylkill Haven and other members of local police departments, is aimed at stressing to seventh grade students the important choices they make when presented with realistic scenarios.The name "Shield 7" is a way for law enforcement to interact with seventh graders and stress to students the importance of choices that they will be making in their lives. The main theme of the program is that "Choices Count" and the program focuses on three main issues that seventh graders are now facing or will face in the upcoming years. The program addresses bullying, alcohol and/or drug use, "sexting" or the proper use of cell phones and cameras.An important issue that is addressed during the program is the issue of "sexting", where students transmit sexually explicit photos over their cell phones or via other electronic device. Most recently, a law was passed in Pennsylvania changing sexting from a misdemeanor offense to a felony offense.Goodman emphasized that these are all very important issues and the District Attorney's Office along with local law enforcement wants to be proactive in going to the schools to educate our youth about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, "sexting"/ also called sextant texting, and bullying.Goodman stated that law enforcement wants to avoid the potential tragedies that can happen if students make poor choices in any of these important issues that they will be facing in the next couple of years.Besides listening to an educational talk from Goodman about drugs and alcohol, sextant texting and bullying, the students were able to enjoy many activities the promote teamwork and decision making skills. Some of the fun activities involved basketball shots, football throws, soccer, and street hockey, dribbling through a course, jumping rope, hacky sack kicks, races around the gymnasium, and adult/student/ police officer competitions.Most recently, a bullying case occurred in Massachusetts where nine individuals were arrested and were charged with the death of a female in a bullying incident. Goodman stated it is important to teach youth that bullying that is occurring in our schools must stop and that all students should be aware of the bullying going on around them and make positive decisions to stop bullying in their schools.Goodman and various guest speakers use the program to talk to kids about the use of drugs and alcohol and to warns students that in the upcoming years they will most likely be confronted by someone who tries to entice them to use drugs and/or alcohol. The "Shield 7" team hits home on the fact that trying and/or using drugs and alcohol is a bad decision that can lead these young students down the wrong path.District Attorney Goodman stated that law enforcement is being proactive by going to the schools and teaching them about the potential dangers of the internet and "sexting" so that these students know that their cell phones and computers are not toys and that they are using them the way they were intended to be used. If students use their cell phones and computer appropriately, then the District Attorney's Office and law enforcement won't be put in a situation where they have to charge students with crimes which can affect the students for the rest of their lives.The District Attorney's Office and law enforcement does not only hit home on real life issues, but also make the events fun and exciting as the students are broken down into teams and in between talks the students participate as teams in fun challenging games.In 2009, the "Shield 7" program was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice and about one half of the school districts in the county participated in the program. This year the program is funded by Schuylkill County District Attorney Goodman's Forfeiture Account. DA Goodman stated that it is important that we use this money to give back to our community and to educate our children about important decisions they have to face and then warn them of the consequences if they make poor decisions.The agencies participating in the "Shield 7" Program are local police departments, Schuylkill County District Attorney's Office, the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office, and the Schuylkill County Juvenile Probation Office.