Kids and Cops: Knowing and having a good relationship with your local police is important for growing up and living in the community.
Thank you for the event invitation and this sponsored post McDonald’s of North Texas.
“Stop it!…or that cop will get you!” I had muttered to my daughter one day as she didn’t listen to my instructions while attending a public event.
The officer that was within earshot distance and I had smiled at as I said the threat to my daughter had grinned, but later let me in on a little secret. He told me, while they loved the respect taught to police, but that having the kids be “afraid” of them made it harder to be help them in times of need.
The little nugget sat with me for a moment and made so much sense. Why would I try to villainize the people who are supposed to help protect my family and my kids?
That’s why more than ever having a direct relationship with your police department is so important.
Recently, the Plano, Longview, and Fort Worth Police Departments each partnered with their local McDonalds of North Texas for a special family-focused event, Cones with Cops. Cones with Cops is new initiative with McDonald’s of North Texas and Plano, Fort Worth and Longview Police Departments to boost officer and community relations by providing families with the opportunity to interact with Police Officers working in their neighborhood. Officers of all levels – including Sergeants, Deputy Chiefs and Neighborhood Patrol Officers – talk with families to answer questions, discuss public safety and build relationships with those they serve.
The public was invited to meet members of their local police department and emergency teams as well as enroll children in a special safety program by the neighborhood watch groups. The program keeps a file of children’s photo with some personal details so in the event your child is lost and also issues a personal identification card with the child’s info to share with authorities. And of course, ice cream cones were shared by the officers as children were able to explore a police vehicle, take photos with the officers, and get safety information collected in the mobile unit.
Many families lined up for the special event, including a few young police-officers-in-the-making lined up to have the opportunity to see their heroes in action. And of course, like clockwork, members of the fire department also on site had to make an emergency exit for a reported incident, making for a special experience for those in the parking lot of their friendly McDonald’s to hear the siren go on while the fire engine left the lot.
And of course, after all that hard work, we couldn’t complete the day without having a Happy Meal break and a little trip around the world with the limited-time only cheese fries and the Chicken Tomato Mozzarella sandwich (The world wide menu is where it’s at!)
This event, along with several other community events and programs, are presented by McDonalds of North Texas, is designed to create an ongoing dialog with customers as a community destination for not just food, but the things we all share like police, playdates, and family time.
Now, of course, I’m not saying every group doesn’t have issues or that there aren’t cases of when people in this line of work haven’t deviated from the protocol, but what I can attest is that the first step in creating stronger, healthier and more meaningful communities starts with communication – and a little ice cream doesn’t hurt either.
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