Police Forced To Stop 'High-Five Fridays' In Massachusetts

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (CBS)--A police department's effort to give high-fives to neighborhood children gets a thumbs down from parents, WBZ reports.

Officers in Northampton, Massachusetts, visited elementary schools for what they called "high-five Fridays."

They'd wait for children to get off the bus and give them high-fives.

"We would just wait for the children to get off the bus and we'd high five them if they wanted one when they came off the bus, and they'd go about their day and we'd leave afterwards," said Capt. John Cartledge, with the Northampton Police Department.

The idea was to help officers connect with children, but some parents worried about bad experiences for children of color and undocumented children so the police department canceled the program.

The department assured the public that their officers will "still accept high-fives, low-fives, and fist bumps" if you see them out on the street.