'Basketball In The Park' Brings Police Together With Low-Income Community
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- We all know it's good to get kids outside -- to be active and stay healthy -- but police in one Twin Cities community are doing that for a bigger reason.
Throughout the summer, St. Louis Park Police officers put on "Basketball in the Park' for kids. The decade old program gives children and teens the opportunity to shoot hoops with police officers. It's also part of an effort to build a better relationship between police and kids from low-income families.
People love summer for all different reasons, but for Kamari Bright it's what happens on Thursday nights.
"This is like the second thing I look forward to instead of my birthday," he said.
The weekly Basketball in the Park program was the brainchild of St. Louis Park police officer Paul Barnes in 2005, hoping to connect with teens in low-income neighborhoods.
"When we first started, nobody had had a positive interaction with the police, or they had witnessed their parents having a bad interaction with the police" Officer Barnes said. "Just showing up in a uniform was intimidating people."
Ten years later, the program draws children and teens of all ages from St. Louis Park and the greater community. They play basketball, kick-ball, and do arts & crafts.
"After we get to know them, they start running up to us," Officer Chaunte Ford said. "They want to give us hugs and they know our first names."
Patrol Officer Chaunte Ford took over the program last year, and it hit close to home.
"I grew up with a single mom myself, and I had a police officer that was very inspirational to me," she said. "I figured that's something I can do."
Basketball Park runs 12 weeks in the summer, and doesn't cost a thing to the families who attend. For the officers, they hope the play time will have an impact off the playground.
"We're going to keep making those positive interactions in the community," Officer Ford said.
Kate says most of the kids at Basketball in the Park are served by two local agencies -- an organization called Perspectives, and another called the Project for Pride in Living.
