My Story

Children in my town, including myself, treated these friendly interactions with awe and wonder. Although I didn’t know much about the challenges of being a law enforcement officer, I was raised to respect all people, from all backgrounds and professions. My early positive interactions with officers of the law allowed me to have an optimistic and favorable view of them throughout my life. When I began my career as a preschool teacher in North Carolina, it just seemed natural to bring in officers to engage with our kids on community helper days. They told stories, shared police badge stickers, and showed the kids their police cars.  Most of the kids loved these visits, but I would always notice a few students who seemed fearful and wary of the officers. Since I had never experienced these feelings around police officers myself, I was determined to better understand where these feelings were coming from, and find a way to bridge the divide in a positive, encouraging way. 

 

When I began to dig a little deeper through community research, I found that most law enforcement outreach programs were aimed at young adults between the ages of 12 and 17. Here was the missing link I was looking for! Having seen fear in the eyes of three- and four-year-olds in my classroom, it was evident that these programs were beginning much too late. It is not enough to simply have “community helper days” once a year. The ages of 4-11 are critical development ages in which children begin to form their own ideas, often based on their surrounding environment, that will form the basis of their opinions for a lifetime. Children at these ages learn through play and social interaction, and there is no better way to begin building a relationship of trust with police officers than by offering programs aligned with unstructured play, in places where children feel safe and protected.

 

It was then that Police at Play was born.