BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- One of the Bakersfield Police Department and Keep Bakersfield Beautiful Anti-Graffiti Task Force programs “Adopt A Mailbox” has been selected as a National Award Winner by Keep America Beautiful.

The Distinguished Service Citation award will be presented at Keep America Beautiful 56th National Conference in Washington, D.C. on Friday, December 4th, 2009. The City of Bakersfield is the only Keep America Beautiful Affiliate in California to receive an award this year at the Keep America Beautiful National Conference, according to Detective Mary DeGeare.

The “Adopt a Mailbox” program not only allows residents and volunteers to remove graffiti from mailboxes, but allows them to restore beauty back into their neighborhood and also restores a sense of pride, according to DeGeare.

The program is a partnership between the US Postal Service, Kern County Probation Department, Dunn Edwards Paint and the BPD Crime Prevention Unit.

The Bakersfield Police Department Crime Prevention Unit seeing a clear need to address the graffiti problem in the community partnered with Keep Bakersfield Beautiful, a successful and established non-profit organization dedicated to the beautification of Bakersfield. From this partnership an Anti-Graffiti Task Force Committee, consisting of city, county, state agencies and non-profit groups was formed to created innovative programs to battle graffiti in our communities.

Community non-profits and groups are encouraged to become a partner and help create change in our Community.

Information provided by the Bakersfield Police Department