Lt. Pat Vicari was patrolling the streets behind the Hammond Civic Center when he spotted Ana Mora cruising toward an intersection.

“Red light, red light! Use your brakes,” Vicari told her.

“Oh!” Mora, 8, said as her flip-flops skidded on the pavement and brought her to a stop.

Vicari and Mora rode bicycles Thursday on the miniature streets in Hammond’s Safety Village. The shrunken town is equipped with buildings, crosswalks, stoplights, street names and even a working railroad crossing.

Vicari and Hammond police have held sessions twice a week for the last three summers at the village, which are free and open to the public to teach children about bicycle and traffic safety.

They start the first week after school ends and go until the week before school begins on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m.. to 2 p.m., Vicari said.

The lessons are funded through a pedestrian and bicycle safety grant geared toward younger, school-aged children, he said.

“The purpose of the grant is to try to reduce any crashes involving motor vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles,” Vicari said.

Vicari begins the lesson with a video to for the children to learn the basic safety tips before taking on the village themselves.

“They have to demonstrate to use exactly what it was that they learned,” Vicari said.

Vicari makes sure they focus on following the traffic rules, at least for a while, before it becomes a free for all, and on Friday, a game of tag.

“It’s just a gaggle of good times,” Vicari said.

Vicari is focused on making sure the children are learning safety tips.

But there’s a personal side that especially important to him — getting to know a police officer.

“The interaction, it’s fantastic,” he said. “We want people to know that we’re actually human beings, too. We’re mommies and daddies, and don’t be afraid of us.”

On Friday, a dozen children from Krystals Kastle Family Child Care — run by Shellie Vicari, Pat Vicari’s wife — came for lessons.

As they entered the village, Pat Vicari gave hugs and high fives, asking how the children were and how vacations went.

“What would you like to drive?” he asked as the children picked from rows of bicycles and pedal cars.

Vicari gives a lot of credit to all the people who help get the village up and running for the summer.

Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad got the railroad crossing working again. Midwestern Electric and the city’s public works helped with the street lights, fences and other items.

Some of the bikes have seen better days, but Vicari said he and other officers have worked on making them functional.

Vicari is always accepting donations and he said they could especially use more bikes with training wheels.

Donations may be taken to the Hammond Police Department or people can call the department’s traffic division at 219-852-2911.

Gracin Younker, 5, took off in a pedal car Thursday that went off the pavement and into the grass. “Oh no, I need a tow truck!” Younker said.

Shellie Vicari came over and lifted the pedal car back onto the pavement as other children rode past.

“Thank you, tow truck,” Younker said.

Lt. Vicari hopped on his bicycle to patrol the traffic Thursday in the village and spotted Younker in the wrong lane.

“You slow down!” Younker called out to Vicari.

“You’ve got to go, man. You’re obstructing traffic,” Vicari replied.

Younker got a traffic ticket, meaning he had to go sit on a picnic bench for a couple of minutes.

Shellie Vicari put down the arms of the railroad crossing and a line of children on bicycles lined up as the children waited to cross. It wasn’t long until they were ready for the imaginary train to be gone.

“I don’t want to wait now,” Younker said as he sat on his pedal car.

At one point, the children parked the bikes along the grass to check out a caterpillar climbing on a tree. Pat Vicari came over to see before he started a game of tag. “Where, oh where are these little children at? Oh where, oh where could they be?” Vicari sang as he went looking for the hiding children.

The Safety Village turned into a ghost town until shrieks rang out when Vicari found someone.

Eventually, it was Vicari’s turn to go hide, and the children quickly caught up to him.

“They got me,” Vicari said and took a rest at a picnic table as the children ran around.

rejacobs@post-trib.com

Twitter @ruthyjacobs