The first Pop with a Cop was a great success when the Page Police Department joined Page High students in the courtyard during lunch.

Pop with a Cop is a community outreach event designed to provide an open venue for questions and conversation between students and police and a way for building a trusting and approachable relationship with the youth of Page in a casual atmosphere.

Page’s Chief of Police Frank Balkcom attended the inaugural event to help hand out popsicles and badges to the students. Students were happy to get a cold treat on a warm day along with a badge sticker, which many proudly wore. In addition, students found pamphlets on topics that teens face every day such as peer pressure, drugs and alcohol abuse, and drunk driving.

“This is part of our outreach program, a partnership between us and the schools to address what’s going on lately in the community,” said Balkcom. “We have been doing Coffee with a Cop and National Night Out and now we created a theme to reach out to our youth, to make contact with them. Soon we will be moving to weekend detail with the outreach and it’s pretty successful. We want people to see us. I tell the kids ‘Nobody is in trouble; we want you to be able to talk to us. Now go get a popsicle.’”

“My philosophy is if we reach one of them then we’re successful,” he said. “People say it takes a village to raise a child, but I say it takes a community. We need the help of the schools, the media and the community. We are working on a partnership with all the [law enforcement departments] to be a part of this for the good of our community. We can only do so much police work.”

Balkcom added that good parenting is key but actually accomplishing good parenting can be a struggle when the parents work.

Using social media can be used to check up on their child in a way that may seem “uncool” but can be useful at times.  

“There is a lot of things that can happen with supervising children, like there is social media and it’s a challenge supervising children,” said Balkcom. “Parents say they’re real busy, but they still have to make time for their children. It’s called ‘love’ to reach out to your kids or their friends and parents [if they are struggling]. “We want them to succeed. I raised four sons: I know. We want to know where they are and who their friends are. Kids nowadays don’t see that, they see [social media] as a way to micromanage, but its called love.”

Balkcom tries to add his own personal investment in community acting as a second parent in a way.

“Your kid is also my responsibility, its all our responsibility as a members of this community.”

The next Pop with a Cop is scheduled for April 18 at Page Middle School. The following Pop with a Cop events are on May 2 at the Desert View Elementary and May 16 at Lake View Primary.

All the events are scheduled during the lunch break. For copies of the flyer see the Page Police Department’s Facebook page.