PINE BLUFF -- Showing a child how to tie a bow tie may not sound like something police officers would teach children, but they do at the Pine Bluff Police and Youth Camp.
Learning how to dress for various occasions and building self respect are just a few of the lessons taught during the six-week program that aims to teach children 6 to 16 to look at police officers in a different way, Pine Bluff Sgt. Hosea Thompson said.
"One of our goals of the program is to allow students to see how we as police officers are and that we are not all bad," Thompson said. "Sometimes that is what they might think if all they see are videos on the media and social media about some police, but when we get to be with them six weeks for five days a week, they get a chance to see officers differently."
About 280 students, ages 6 to 16, took part in the camp this year. It marked the sixth year of the program, and Jacquelin Norful said her 10-year-old niece, Arianna Humphrey, has participated since its inception.
"She's always telling me, I'm going here. I'm going there. I'm going to Little Rock. I'm going to Hot Springs," Norful said.
Norful was among parents, family and friends who filled the Pine Bluff Convention Center for graduation ceremonies Thursday night. She said the program makes her feel somewhat better about the relationship black youths have with the police, particularly in light of the recent events.
Police departments across the country have come under heightened scrutiny following the recent deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn. Both men, who were black, were killed by police officers, which has led to demonstrations around the nation by groups protesting police brutality.
Five officers were killed and nine others injured in Dallas during a Black Lives Matter protest against the deaths of Sterling and Castile.
"The program teaches them to be respectful, especially of an authority figure," Norful said. "With all the situations going on now with the police, this might help change the mind-set that police officers are here to help, not hurt. They are here to protect and serve."
Pine Bluff Police Chief Jeff Hubanks said any child who applies to the camp is accepted, regardless of their ability to pay. The camp costs $100, which covers all meals, snacks and admission for students to various events at places such as the Little Rock Zoo, Wild River Country and Magic Springs.
The group has corporate sponsors, Hubanks said, but police officers also help sponsor children.
At the end of the camp, children receive a bag of school supplies so they can be ready to go back into the classroom.
Those things come with a price, but it's hard to put a price tag on the experiences the children have during the camp, said Lawrence A. Davis Jr., a former chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Davis, who's not a policeman, volunteers as a golf coach for students. While most students are familiar with football, baseball or basketball, the camp is typically their first exposure to golf, Davis said.
"They look at it like it's not hard at first, but they get excited when they make contact with the ball and realize it's not easy," Davis said.
Davis, a grandfather of nine, said he can tell some of the students get more than just golf lessons from the time they spend with him on the greens.
"Every now and then they ask if they can call me Papaw," he said.
Davis said young people need to develop relationships with older adults, and he believes they want to have a good relationship with police, too. But to be able to have a relationship, the children and the police have to get to know one another and not just see each other through stereotypes.
"What has to happen is what's happening here," he said of the camp. "These young people have to learn not to look at the police as their foe. The police have a difficult job. They don't ever know what they are walking up to, and fear is increased in people when they don't know each other and you don't understand each other.
"There is a disconnect in our culture, and this causes problems," Davis said.
State Desk on 07/18/2016