Some Findlay police officers and firefighters took some time between calls on Tuesday to play some kickball at Riverside Park with youngsters from the YMCA Summer Camp.

Officer Brian White, Crime Prevention Officer with the Findlay Police Department, said it was an impromptu game and anytime they can make a connection with kids it’s a worthwhile thing to do.

A few of the police officers had to leave early to respond to a call and you can hear their sirens in the background of part of the video below.

Another event in which police, fire and EMS have a chance to interact with kids is Flag City Night Out, which is coming up on Tuesday, August 3rd.

Get more details on Flag City Night Out by clicking here.

July is National Vehicle Theft Prevention Month, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol doesn’t want you to become a victim.

The Highway Patrol says 721,885 vehicles were stolen nationwide in 2019, and only about half were recovered.

The Highway Patrol says to use common sense when parking and leaving your vehicle.

Never leave the keys in the vehicle, close all windows, never leave valuable items in your vehicle and try to park in a well-lit area.

Get more tips by clicking here.

A busy Findlay intersection will be closing for approximately three months so it can be raised so it won’t flood anymore.

The Findlay Engineering Department says the intersection of East Main Cross Street and East Street will close on Monday, July 26th.

The closing of the intersection will mark the beginning of the second half of a project to raise two intersections and a portion of roadway so they don’t flood.

In June, Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway closed for the first half of the project which is still underway.

The first part of the project is the raising of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway from the MLK bridge to Blanchard Street, including the Clinton Court intersection, and building a new super- elevation turn that will tie in to Blanchard Street.

And the second half of the project is the raising of the East Main Cross/East Street intersection, which will begin July 26th.

Findlay City Engineer Jeremy Kalb says the project will ensure that when we get the next really bad flood, emergency vehicles will still be able to utilize the roadway.

As part of the East Main Cross/East Street project a law office on the corner and a building behind it will be torn down.

Both parts of the project are expected to be completed in October.

The Hancock County Battle of the Badges Blood Drive will be held on Monday, August 9th at the Findlay Elks Club located at 900 West Melrose Avenue.

Deputy Corey Hartman, Crime Prevention Specialist with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, is hoping a lot of people can attend the event as the country is still in a severe blood shortage.

As Deputy Hartman mentioned in the audio above, Battle of the Badges is fun competition between the agencies in which blood donors decide which agency they’ll be donating blood on behalf of and then at the end of the day the pints are tallied and the winning agency has bragging rights until next year.

The participating agencies are the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, Findlay Police Department, Findlay Fire Department and Hanco EMS.

The Battle of the Badges Blood Drive will be held on Monday, August 9th from noon to six at the Findlay Elks Club at 900 West Melrose Avenue.

To schedule an appointment of the Battle of the Badges visit redcrossblood.org and use sponsorship code FINDLAYELKS or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.

It is essential for surgeries, cancer treatment, chronic illnesses, and traumatic injuries.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is joining forces with other members of the 6-State Trooper Project to focus on Move Over enforcement.

The initiative began on Sunday, July 18th and will continue through Saturday, July 24th.

The high-visibility enforcement will include the Indiana State Police, Kentucky State Police, Michigan State Police, Pennsylvania State Police and the West Virginia State Police, as well as OSHP.

From 2016 to 2020, Ohio State Highway Patrol cruisers were involved in 56 crashes that were “Move Over” related.

During that same time period, the Patrol has recorded 25,185 Move Over violation citations.

“When drivers move over, they can help protect the lives of everyone who works on or uses Ohio’s roadways,” said Colonel Richard S. Fambro, Patrol superintendent.

“Moving over isn’t just the law; it’s the right thing to do. So when you see flashing lights, move over and slow down.”

Ohio law requires all drivers to move over to an adjacent lane when approaching any vehicle with flashing or rotating lights parked on the roadside.

If moving over is not possible due to traffic or weather conditions, or because a second lane does not exist, motorists should slow down and proceed with caution.

The Move Over law now exists in all 50 states.

The 6-State Trooper Project is a multi-state law enforcement partnership aimed at providing combined and coordinated law enforcement and security services in the areas of highway safety, criminal patrol and intelligence sharing.

The Ohio Department of Transportation also reminds people to obey the Move Over law.

Last year, 125 of their roadside crews were struck by a passing motorist not paying attention or obeying the law.

So far this year 80 of their crews have been struck.

The Findlay Fire Department responded to a house fire on Sunday night.

The fire was at a house in the 1300 block of Washington Avenue, between Greenlawn and Glendale.

WFIN was told at the scene that no one was home when the fire started in the basement of the house.

Firefighters quickly put the fire out, but the home did sustain some fire and smoke damage.

Area law enforcement agencies collaborated on an OVI checkpoint in Findlay on Saturday night.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol, in conjunction with the Findlay Police Department, the University of Findlay Police Department, and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office held the sobriety checkpoint on North Main Street near the University of Findlay.

The Highway Patrol says OVI checkpoints, funded by federal grant funds, are planned to deter and intercept impaired drivers.

The checkpoint was held in conjunction with nearby saturation patrols to aggressively combat alcohol-related injury and fatal crashes.

We spoke with Lt. Matt Crow, the OSHP Findlay Post Commander, at the checkpoint.

He said, while many people make the right decision to not get behind the wheel after drinking, far too many still do.

The Lt. said the most impaired drivers they’ve taken off the road at a sobriety checkpoint in Findlay was seven, and other times they don’t come across any, as was the case Saturday night.

He said a checkpoint’s success is not determined by the number of impaired drivers they find, rather, all checkpoints are successful because they increase public awareness about the problem of impaired driving and shows that authorities take it very seriously.

Get more of our conversation with Lt. Crow in the video below.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public for help in identifying a man seen on surveillance video stealing a John Deere UTV from a Findlay business.

The sheriff’s office says the theft occurred at Findlay Implement at 1640 Northridge Road at 6:20 Sunday morning.

The suspect is a white man who was wearing a camo sweatshirt/jacket and blue jeans.

The individual was observed driving a gray 2005-2007 Ford F-250 pulling an enclosed trailer.

Anyone with information is being asked to call Detective Otto with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office at 419-424-7261.

Some animal shelters are seeing quite a few pets that were adopted during the pandemic returned, but the Humane Society & SPCA of Hancock County says they are not.

Operations Manager Natalie Reffitt credits their adoption process over the pandemic.

The shelter was closed during the pandemic and people had to fill out an application beforehand which gave the shelter a better idea of what the person was after.

She said that process led to better matchmaking than having people come in and look around and choose a pet just because they looked cute.

Natalie is still highly encouraging people to fill out an application ahead of time so they can make a better match, but people can now come in and look around as the shelter has reopened.

She said they did see an increase in adoptions over the pandemic but it wasn’t a huge increase.

She said pets offered people a lot of comfort and purpose during the pandemic.

Natalie said that veterinary clinics have seen a big increase over the pandemic with people bringing in newly adopted pets for checkups or other concerns.

She said during the pandemic and stay home order people had a chance to be around their pets 24/7 which led to people seeing more possible ailments in the pets and having them checked out.

People are asked to be patient as veterinarians work to catch up with the increase in patients.

Click here to see the pets up for adoption at the Humane Society & SPCA of Hancock County.

In the picture above are Star and Hudson.

Somebody is using the name of the Ohio Department of Transportation to try and scam people.

ODOT said it has been made aware of suspicious text messages that appear to be from ODOT requesting that people validate their driver license information.

The Ohio Department of Transportation points out that it does not issue driver licenses in Ohio.

ODOT said, while the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles does issue driver licenses, the BMV is not requesting this information from anyone either.

ODOT alerted the public to a similar scam in February.