REEDLEY – For a day of baseball and volleyball games, the Reedley Police Department (RPD) connected with local children for their sixth annual Cops, Jocks and Kids Camp.
About 20 children with ages ranging from seven to 13 years, met Reedley police officers, professional staff and police explorers for a day full of sports and pizza on Aug. 6 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Reedley Community Center.
The purpose of the event is to get the children of the Reedley community involved with the RPD so that they may feel comfortable to reach out in times of need, according to Rosalanda Robledo, the RPD Liaison who was at the event.
“It (the event) means a lot to us because we’re very family-based,” said Robledo. “It’s for the children to approach officers and not be scared.”
As a special aspect, the children got to meet Sergeant Jesus Rivera and his K9, Blu, at the event.
“It’s (the event) to impact our community—not just to the adults, but to the children,” said Nataly Juarez, an administration assistant who was also at the event. “We want to extend that hand of ‘we’re here to help,’ and even just greet each other to show that we’re also human.”
