Kickball game with kids helps police humanize badge
Eddie Allen rested his hands atop his walking stick Monday afternoon. His wide-brimmed, straw hat shielded his eyes as the recently eclipsed sun found its way back to full strength.
Allen, 55, stood on a slight rise just south of the Douglas Community Center in South Linden, watching what appeared at first to be sheer pandemonium, but eventually revealed itself to be a kickball game with a glut of players and a dearth of rules.
Neighborhood kids dove to catch balls belted into the outfield by cops in uniform. The tiniest of them tapped the
ball a few feet and fielded it themselves before running to first base. Coaching over at third, Tony Collins, director of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, wind-milled base runners to head for home.
From his spot on the nearby embankment, Allen was reminded of his own childhood, playing Police Athletic League basketball. “I love to see this,” he said. Back in the 1970s, his PAL basketball teams practiced a few days a week and played on Saturdays wherever they could get a gym. The coaches were police officers, often retired, who taught them the game and knew the neighborhood. If a kid brought home a less- than- stellar report card, his coach would hear about it, Allen said.
“We was involved, and it kept us out of trouble,” he said.
That was one reason for Monday’s game. Another was to help bridge any gulf that existed between police officers and the community. City police partnered with the parks department and a national initiative called Humanizing the Badge, which is geared to do just that.
Founder Elizabeth Ogden started the group in late 2014, eventually recruiting officers from across the U. S. to forge stronger bonds with citizens.
Officers from San Diego to Detroit teamed on Monday with local officers from Columbus and smaller communities like Pataskala and Obetz. The group will pass out 400 backpacks with school supplies Tuesday to children at Weinland Park Elementary School, and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday will host a public cookout with water-themed games at Nelson Park on the Near East Side.
Columbus Deputy Chief Ken Kuebler said the week’s events were partly due to the efforts of Columbus Officer Anthony Johnson, who works on the Near East Side and became a believer in the Humanizing the Badge project.
“They brought him out to San Diego to help them with some projects,” Kuebler said. The program meshed well with Columbus efforts already underway to strengthen bonds between police and the neighborhoods they police.
“It’s much harder to dislike someone you know personally,” Kuebler said.
“There’s an imaginary wall built between police officers and the community,” said Johnson, who has been an officer for five years. “I just hope I can help end it.”
After the game, the participants gathered in the community center to cool off, share a meal and ask questions of the police. They ranged from the lighthearted to the serious.
Do police really like doughnuts? Yes they do. What should I do if I’m stopped by the police?
“It’s your hands that we are most concerned about,” Sgt. James Fuqua explained.
Allen heard about the game and came not to play but to watch.
“I wanted to see something positive in the neighborhood,” he said. He hoped it was the start of something.
Both teams were a mix of cops and kids and other civilians. Balls caromed into the congested field. Adults hoisted giggling toddlers above their heads. Cops stooped low to give and receive high fives.
No one seemed to be keeping score, and it was impossible to tell one side from the other.