AMHERST, N.Y. — If you see tiny rubber ducks hidden around Western New York, you're going to want to take a picture. 2 On Your Side stopped by the Amherst Police Department on Friday morning to find out why.
If you're ready for an adventure in Amherst and Williamsville that will have you mostly inside in the air conditioning, this year's Lucky Duck Scavenger Hunt is underway.
"We put a bunch of little police ducks up, and it's fun, it's free, it's for the kids to go find it," said Amherst Police Officer Trey Johnson.
Amherst Police Officer Trey Johnson is the department's safety education officer, and he's the one who hid all of the ducks.
"Some of our community partners, some of the businesses donated to us, so we're going to kind of give back a little. Plus, it's a win-win. We don't have to worry about the ducks with the weather and everything in the parks, and it's a fun little twist on it," Officer Trey Johnson said.
This year, you'll find them hidden in eleven local businesses.
"Ted's on Transit Road is one of them. So, you know, go get lunch, find a duck. Right? Sweet Jenny's in the Village of Williamsville, go grab an ice cream cone, you know? Find the duck," Officer Johnson said. "I did hide one in town hall, so you can go to our town hall, that's open, you know, to the public.
"You can go in and try to find it there as well. They might be on a shelf, it might be hanging from a ceiling, it might be in a display case. I mean, I don't want to give it away. That's the fun of it, right?"
Started by the Cheektowaga Police Department a few years ago as a way for people to get outside during COVID, the scavenger hunt is also a way for people to connect with their communities.
Here's how it works.
"The whole idea is to get you out and about moving in the community, and they're all fairly close in proximity so you don't have to drive all over, you know, over the town," Officer Johnson said.
"But the nice thing about it is, you go, you find the duck, you take a picture, you take a selfie with the duck, there's going to be signs with QR codes, you scan the QR code, it gets uploaded, and then we'll randomly pick some winners out of all the kids, and we have little prize buckets for the kids."
It's not a race, you don't have to do it all in one day. You just have to find all 11 ducks, then you're put in the mix to win a prize. The scavenger hunt started Friday, Aug. 16 and runs through Sunday, Aug. 25.
But this is just one of the many community outreach programs Amherst Police do every year. They also do a haunted house.
"This will be our third year running over at our Bailey Avenue Community Policing and Training Facility. We take our 27 room sim house and I turn that into a two-story haunted house for kids. We have a safety fair up front. We do carnival games in the back for the kids with little prizes," Officer Johnson said.
Officer Johnson says these events help make people feel comfortable asking questions and getting help.
"They don't want to call the police department, you know, they don't, they feel like they're tying up our resources or they don't want to have a police car in front of their house, totally understand that. But, they just have a question so they'll approach us and we can talk to them in a much more low key environment," Officer Johnson said.
Several other Western New York police departments are also part of this and many hide their ducks in parks.
As for the prizes in Amherst, Officer Johnson hasn't revealed what they will be this year just yet, but he did tell us you will also get to take home a duck.