Joplin Police give back with free pool party

It was a great turnout at Schifferdecker Aquatic Center for the Joplin Police Department’s Pool Party Wednesday afternoon.

Joplin Police Captain Trevor Duncan says they love to give back to the community. “We’re not on a call for service and have to leave immediately … so we can actually interact with them, talk with them and show them some of our vehicles and have a much more laid back conversation next to the pool.”

It’s the second block party they’ve thrown this summer. “We’ve teamed with the Parks Department to offer the pool for free to swim so some of these families that maybe can’t afford to use the pool can come swim for free.”

Captain Duncan also emphasized the importance of engaging with the younger people. “Chief Pearson tells the story that he didn’t know what he wanted to do in a career, and he walked into a career fair one day and had a conversation with a police officer, and that changed his total trajectory in life. Now he’s our chief.”

“So situations like this, the kids are all excited to see us. We’re excited to interact with them. They love to see the big trucks and we just never know what kind of influence we might have on any one of these kids at any given time,” said Duncan. “We want those influences to be positive and not negative. Sometimes they see us in a negative light because we may be taking some kind of enforcement action against a loved one or having to deal with a nasty family situation, so this is just a great time where they can see in a different light, where we can just very casually interact with them and let them have a good time in the process.”