In 1990, Senior Corporal Mac Sibley of the Dallas Police Department brought the program to Texas and, with the help of the Duncanville Police Department, expanded the program and built on the start that Sgt. Robertson had begun. The program started with two cars in 1990. In 1991, it expanded to a third car from the Sulphur Springs, Texas Police Department. In 1992, the volunteer police officers incorporated the program receiving tax-exempt status from the IRS under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. The program also received tax-exempt status from the Comptroller of the State of Texas. That year the program grew to 5 cars. In 1993, the program grew to 18 cars representing 15 Police Agencies around the State of Texas. There were 10 more officers from the Houston area that formed a Gulf Coast Beat the Heat Division. In 1993, the officers participated in over 40 events around the state where they were in direct contact with over 50,000 young people. In 1994, the program grew to over 25 cars and the Drag Cops participated in over 50 events contacting almost 100,000 young people. It also won a prestigious CRIMINAL JUSTICE AWARD from the Texas Attorney General's Office for its work with young people in the Prevention Category. The Drag Cops also worked, hands on, with well over 100,000 young people in 1994. In 1995, the program grew beyond the borders of the State of Texas with over 35 officers and cars participating representing 30 Police Agencies in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The 1995 Schedule of Events grew to over 100 different events around the country by the time the year was over. There were 41 participants in the 5TH ANNUAL BEAT THE HEAT CHALLENGE at the Texas Motorplex and over 6,000 spectators were in the stands. This was the largest spectator crowd to ever attend a regular Saturday night bracket race in the history of the Motorplex. Easily, half of the spectators were young people. That's what we are all about. In 1997, the program expanded nationwide in order to unite the efforts of all the Public Safety Officers who give of themselves to the kids. We will supply support and information for all these dedicated Public Servants. We will also provide guidance to other officers who desire to begin programs of their own. The membership grew to over 100 officers who contacted over 500,000 kids at over 300 events. In 1998 the program has grown into the 27th
state with over 150 members. Our goal was to contact a million kids
this year if we could. We succeeded in contacting almost 700,000
kids at just under 500 different events. ESPN covered all the NSCA events and had 30 minutes programs shown on national television. This was valuable publicity for the program as well. Besides the young people who were exposed to the program through the TV media our members succeeded in contacting over 1,301,000 kids at over 750 events. In 2000 the members of Beat the Heat, Inc. continued to work with many thousands of young people all over the United States and Canada. They went to more schools, did more displays and contacted over 1,304,000 kids. The Beat the Heat World Finals was moved westward to Bowling Green, Kentucky where we had the largest collection of drag racing police cars ever assembled. Membership grew to 171 members in 30 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. All funds come from donations from sponsors
and individual donors who desire to see the Goals of the Program
met. NO TAX DOLLARS are spent by any agency we represent. Since
ALL participants are volunteers, over 98% of all funding goes directly
to operate the program. Several of the officers have trading cards
printed. These have proved to be great items to present to the kids
to remind them about the principles of the program. The members of the program contacted over 245,000 young people in 1995 delivering our educational message. In 1996, we worked with over 300,000 kids. That number grew to well over 500,000 in 1997. In 1998, that number pushed 700,000. In 1999, We contacted 1,301,780 kids in over 750 events. Our activities continues to grow in 2000 making over 1.3 million kid contacts. We can document that we made a difference for many of these young people and we did it very economically, spending less than ONE DOLLAR per child. Try to imagine what we might be able to do if we were able to spend 2 or 3 dollars per child! Although there are some administrative costs they amount to less than 2% of the entire budget. We are very proud that these expenses are kept at a bare minimum. The volunteer officers of the program drive well over 300,000 miles each year to participate in all these events. We DO NOT charge a fee for our appearances. We find that most of the time the organizations who really need our services have no budget to supply any funding to help us. That is why they need our help in the first place. It is our intention to keep working with the young people as long as we possibly can and hope that we can get enough help from sponsors and donors to keep us going. Have comments or questions concerning this site or Beat the Heat? Contact us by email. |
The
original BEAT THE HEAT PROGRAM was started by Sgt. Don Robertson
of the Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff's Department in 1984. 
In
1996, the program continued to grow and had over 50 members representing
42 agencies in 8 states. The 1996 Schedule included over 150 events.
Less than 10% of those events were races. The rest were the kind
of events with kids that properly achieves our goals. The HEAT Team
contacted, one to one, over 360,000 young people during the year.
In
1997, 1998 and 1999 the Program sponsored a CHALLENGE SERIES for
officers all over the country to gather and display their programs
and race the cars for the title of TOP COP. The last event at Gainesville
Raceway in Florida was the WORLD FINALS where we crowned a true
National Champion for the program. All the officers that participated
in these events volunteered to do so knowing there were NO monetary
prizes. They participated at their own expense just to try to make
a real difference for the kids.