Interview with Barbara E. Scherz, Co-Author of Bicycles Have Feelings Too

Barbara E. Scherz has worked in the field of law enforcement for over 25 years as a Private Investigator, Probation Officer for the State of Florida, and Community Service Officer for the Delray Beach Police Department. She was also the first female at the Delray Beach Police Department to receive the Cooper Institute Award for Physical Fitness.

Ms. Scherz was the first female to receive a criminal justice scholarship from Broward Community College in Davie, Florida. While a student at BCC, she taught career planning and recruited for BCC. Ms. Scherz then went on to receive a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

While working at the Delray Beach Police Department, she created the Student Bicycle Highway Safety Program in 1997, which was made into a permanent program of the Delray Beach Police Department. This then led to Ms. Scherz speaking annually at the public schools of Delray Beach on Bicycle Safety, and creating an annual appreciation breakfast for crossing guards.

As a result of this program, Ms. Scherz received the Chief's Achievement Award with the Delray Beach Police Department in 1999, and the Distinguished Service Award for Education-Bicycle Safety from the Traffic Safety Committee of the Palm Beaches. She then launched, in 2002, the Bicycle Safety Poster Contest and received another Chief's Achievement Award in 2003, along with another Distinguished Service Award for Education-Bicycle Safety from the Traffic Safety Committee of the Palm Beaches in 2003.

Ms. Scherz has been a Delray Beach Police Department Explorer Advisor since 1998. In 1999, she created the Annual Appreciation Breakfast for Crossing Guards.

Working with children has inspired her to co-author a book with William C. Smith, Sergeant of the Delray Beach Police Department about bicycle safety entitled "Bicycles Have Feelings Too."