Another Side to Police Work

Posted by Steve Roos in on 3:46 PM

[Officer Kent Hoskins talks to a group about his car and equipment during a police station tour]  
You can’t be a police officer very long before a parent will ask you to “scare their kid.”  That’s a bad idea.  I love DARE Officer Kevin Pettingill’s description of a youngster’s first interaction with the police when Dad yells, “Get down, there’s a cop!” if they aren’t buckled in.  The child might be too young to understand what a cop is, but they know it’s scary.

We don’t want our children to fear the police.  In fact, as they grow older they are part of the partnership between citizen and police that keeps our community safe.  While we’ll do the heavy lifting, police aren’t alone.  That’s why we only need a handful of officers compared to authoritarian governments who need armies of police more bent on protecting the government from the people than the people from those who would do them harm.

To this end, I think it’s a great idea for young people to have contact with a police officer in a positive setting.   In the last few weeks it seems like our phone has rung off the hook from people wanting to set up police station tours or officer presentations.

These interactions help educate our community on police duties and how they can work with us in keeping our community safe.  It will also show the high quality of men and women who serve at the IFPD.