FARGO – At a time when tensions are flaring between communities and law enforcement, building community trust can be an uphill battle.
If you ask Jefferson fifth-graders Welcome Muhoza and Jay Clark, they're just hanging out with their buddies Officer Bloom and Officer Niemeyer.
"We go to the gym to play basketball for recess, or we go outside with other kids, or sometimes we just stay inside and play board games,” said Jay Clark.
But a checkers challenge and Jenga tower are critical pieces in showing kids what's behind a sometimes-scary uniform.
"A parent will say, 'You better be good Timmy or I'll get that police officer take you away and put you in jail.' And we'd prefer if parents didn't do that,” said Fargo Police Chief Dave Todd.
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For years Fargo Police have been trying to show kids officers are more than just a disciplinary force.
Events like "Night to Unite" and "Cocoa with a Cop" promoting relationships.
"We want kids to look at us as someone they can go to for help, and not someone they should be afraid of,” said Todd.
But even the department concedes – those events don't always attract some of its most at-risk citizens.
"(I thought) they just tackle you and bring you to jail,” said fifth-grader Welcome Muhoza.
"I just think you have to go into their world and not expect them to come to you,” said Fargo Community Trust Officer Michael Bloom.
Bloom and Niemeyer visit shelters and schools proactively building a safe community.
"I think it's a lot easier in life to help a young person than to fix a man, if that makes sense ... or to fix someone who's locked up, incarcerated," said Bloom.
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So far, they're changing Welcome and Jay's minds.
"They're nice and you just have to be good to deserve their niceness," said Welcome.
