West Philly Police District Hosts Youth Block Party
by Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A police district in West Philadelphia held a "youth block party" on Friday, drawing children to its parking lot at 56th and Pine Streets, for food, treats, music, dancing and fun.
Yellow crime scene tape got strung up all around the 18th, but rather than processing for spent shell casings, this block party fingered the usual suspects: grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. The lineup for day-care kids to young teens included water ice, water slides, face-painting, and games.
"I'm here for the moon bounces and the food. I had a hotdog and a krimpet. I also like to meet the police and get on their motorcycles," said one eager party-goer.
Captain Robin Wimberly says the 18th, like other police districts, practices community-policing strategies.
"We interact with them, and say hi, and talk to them, and ask them what they want to do in life. We need to keep that connection to build the bridges," she said.
Wimberly says those young minds are impressionable.
"We want to get them so that we can show them who we really are before some other people manage to have them believe that we're something that we're not," she said.
The event was not organized because of the latest bloodshed and tension from deadly police encounters across the country. The goal is to effectively communicate with and involve folks in the neighborhood - to make it safer for both the public and for officers.
