Billy Pyeatt, the president of the Pearland Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association, the nonprofit behind the event, said he is excited to bring the 5K run back.
“It’s the one thing that is near and dear to my heart just because it is a fun event to put on,” Pyeatt said. “It brings the community together.”
The PCPAAA is a group of about 200 members who have all graduated from the Pearland Police Department’s citizen police academy, said Heather Baker, first-year director for the PCPAAA. The academy launched in 1995 and has seen over 1,200 community members pass the course.
“It’s like a mini police academy,” Pyeatt said.
The 14-week course—held twice a year in every spring and fall—allows the community to meet the officers who teach the classes and provides a way for there to be more eyes on the streets, Pyeatt said.
The program teaches residents about patrol procedures, criminal investigations and crisis intervention, among other topics. The academy does not certify members as law enforcement officers. Once members of the public pass the course, they become eligible to join the nonprofit, Pyeatt said.
The PCPAAA has three roles: aiding the police department with training, such as if the police department needs actors for Special Weapons and Tactics or K-9 training; educating the community; and collecting monetary donations, Pyeatt said.
The alumni association holds two big fundraising events each year: the Pear Run and a gun raffle in the fall, which usually starts in October. The nonprofit works closely with Pearland police to identify items the department could use and are not covered in its usual budget, Pyeatt said.
In the past, funds raised by the PCPAAA have helped provide the police department with K-9 units and their training, bikes, rain coats and tourniquets, Baker said.
The Pear Run in May will be the 16th year the event is held in the city, Pyeatt said. The event started in the mid-2000s with 34 runners and has grown to see as many as 2,000 runners, Pyeatt added.
This year’s Pear Run, which will take place May 7, will be held at Independence Park. Baker said she is excited to see the PCPAAA move back to the run’s origins after the hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The last run was held in 2019, Baker said.
“With all the improvements [at Independence Park] and everything, we feel like it [is] bringing it back home because that is where it started,” Baker said.
