Columbia Police Department offers Halloween safety tips

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Halloween is Monday and the Columbia Police Department has a few tips ahead of trick-or-treating.

Officers want you to stay safe. Goons and goblins will be out on Halloween along with trick-or-treaters and Columbia police officers.

Police will be patrolling and working to keep children and the community safe. Officer Albert Frederick with CPD says he wants kids to get out and enjoy the spooky night but with safety at top of mind.

”Officers are going to be out in force, making sure that they’re seen, making sure everybody’s safe that night,” Frederick said. “We want to make sure that the kids are seen, we’d like them to go out with an adult, if possible, a bigger brother, sister, aunt, or uncle and just be careful in some of the neighborhoods where you are going to gather candy.”

A consumer spending survey published by Nils-Gerrit Wunsch shows more than $3.1 billion have been spent on Halloween candy this year in the U.S. but Frederick says not all candy is safe to eat.

“Don’t have them eating any of the candy before getting back to the house and then inventory what you have, make sure you take anything that’s unwrapped, automatically throw that away,” Frederick said. “I want kids to get as much candy as possible, but we want you to be safe.”

Officials say that the message is to stay safe. Several locations are offering a trunk-or-treat option for kids. You can find some of those listings below:

Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat

Date: October 29, 2022

Time: 6 – 8 p.m.

Location: South Lexington Baptist Church, 116 Brevard Pkwy, Lexington 29073

Cost: Free

Halloween Spooktacular

Date: October 29, 2022

Time: 6 – 9 p.m.

Location: Congaree Cares, Ramblin Rd, West Columbia, SC 29172

Cost: Free

Halloween Party and Trunk or Treat

Date: October 29, 2022

Time: 6 – 9 p.m.

Location: Cayce’s Best Afterschool and Summer Camp, 1330 Knox Abbott Drive, Cayce 29033

Cost: Free

Trunk or Treat

Date: October 30, 2022

Time: 2 – 3:30 p.m.

Location: Spring Valley Presbyterian Church, 125 Sparkleberry Lane, Columbia 29229

Cost: Free

Trunk or Treat & Carnival 2022

Date: October 30, 2022

Time: 3 – 5 p.m.

Location: Cherokee Presbyterian Church, 3622 Augusta Hwy, Gilbert 29054

Cost: Free

Notice a spelling or grammar error in this article? Click or tap here to report it. Please include the article's headline.

Stay up to date with WIS News 10. Get the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and Stream us on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire, or Apple TV.

Copyright 2022 WIS. All rights reserved.