By Helen Wilbers
Get to know Fulton’s men and women in blue during an upcoming meet-and-greet at Carver Park.
This Saturday, officers from the Fulton Police Department will gather at the park (located at 1000 Westminster Ave.) from noon-3:30 p.m. All residents are welcome to attend and enjoy free hotdogs and hamburgers.
“We’ve got a bunch of new police officers in Fulton,” community member and event organizer Cecil Brandt said. “I talked to (Fulton Police) Chief (Steve) Myers — I was just saying we don’t know who they are. I think it’s best if we get to know who the officers are.”
Also involved in planning the event are Rev. Charles Jackson at Missionary Baptist Church, community organizer Carmen Brandt and Fourth Ward Fulton City Council member Bob Washington, Brandt said.
Myers said he thinks it’s a great idea — it’s good for new officers to build familiarity and rapport the the community, he explained.
According to Cecil Brandt, a number of years ago, the officer whose beat included the Carver Park area would stroll through on foot in the evenings.
“He’d just come by and chat with the people up there and keep moving,” Brandt said. “He’d say, ‘Hey how’s everyone doing?’ They knew him and he knew who they were.”
Brandt hopes fostering that kind of mutual familiarity can prevent tension and antagonism.
“With all this mess that’s going on around us,” he said, referencing the summer’s protests following officer-involved shootings elsewhere in the nation, “I think we need to get a better relationship with the police officers, especially the new ones who we don’t know. The people, some of the kids with all the stuff going on they think police officers are bad people. They’re not, we need them.”
Brandt said he used to host chats with officers when he ran a youth organization in the past, but to his knowledge this is the first event of its kind at Carver Park.
“We’re going to have hamburgers and hotdogs, water, maybe some chips,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll be a fun day.”
And as for who’s invited: “Everybody, everybody,” Brandt enthused. “It’s not only for the Black people, it’s for everybody.”
For more information, contact Brandt at 573-220-4441.
"eat" - Google News
September 28, 2020 at 12:58PM
https://ift.tt/2ECzT0m
Meet, greet and eat with FPD at park - Fulton Sun
"eat" - Google News
https://ift.tt/33WjFpI
https://ift.tt/2VWmZ3q
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Meet, greet and eat with FPD at park - Fulton Sun"
Post a Comment