As the nation faces on-going tensions between police and some of the people they serve, Virginia is working to improve relations in the long run – sponsoring free summer camps with cops.
Basketball and other sports are a staple of day camp, but this program – which brings police officers together with middle school kids in Charlottesville and Albemarle County – also features time at a local music studio and lessons on using an iPad.
The program is funded, in part, by the attorney general’s office, so Mark Herring showed up in shorts and a golf shirt to talk with kids about Internet safety.
“Don’t ever send inappropriate photos out there, because the Internet is forever," he explained. "Remember that you’re not really anonymous, and then the third things is you never really know who’s on the other side of that computer screen.”
Next up, Detective Liz Gomes, who warned that children playing the latest computer game – Pokemon Go – risk falling off curbs or being hit by cars, because they’re staring at their screen, and some are being robbed of their smart phones when they go hunting for the virtual reality monsters alone.
“When you’re going to play Pokemon, always play with friends," she advised. "Before you cross a road, you need to look in real life to see if there’s anything coming.”
The camp also offers a chance to help kids make good decisions based on what Virginia laws really say.
“The last thing we want is kids learning about the law from their peer," says Shannon Freeman, program coordinator for Virginia Rules."
She cites the case of a 16-year-old who has an 18-year-old friend tell him, "Hold these drugs for me. You’re a juvenile. If you get caught with them nothing will happen to you. That child just got a law lesson from someone who’s not licensed to practice law," she says.
This year, the program is serving more than 500 children at no charge, and the number of communities taking part is up dramatically .
“We started with just a couple. Last year we had five," says Attorney General Herring. "This year we’ve got 14. It’s a great opportunity for them to interact with law enforcement, and any time we can build that trust between law enforcement and the community, it’s a good thing.”
He adds that children aren’t the only ones getting lessons this summer to help prevent angry confrontations between police and communities. The cops are taking part in seminars to raise awareness of their cultural biases and how to keep those from interfering with fair treatment of citizens.