LYNNWOOD — A boy asked a police sergeant if he could sit in a patrol car.
His brown hair could barely be seen above the steering wheel. He quickly learned how to turn on the siren and lights.
The grinning boy didn’t mind the noise.
The Lynnwood Police Department hosted its fourth annual Cops and Kids event last month. About 1,000 people stopped by the plaza at the Alderwood mall to visit with police and community groups.
Kids piled into a SWAT car, watched a police dog train to catch criminals and asked lots of questions.
It’s a way for officers to de-mystify police work, Cmdr. Wes Deppa said.
Deppa came up with the idea for Cops and Kids while he was going to school to earn his master’s degree. The event started out as a project.
In 2008, during the recession, the police department cut some of its community outreach programs, such as the school resource officer position, Deppa said.
The annual Cops and Kids event is a time for families and police to get together outside of an emergency.
“Too often the first interaction people have with the police is because something went wrong,” Deppa said.
Deppa, who has worked for the Lynnwood Police Department since he was 19, remembers seeing officers as a boy. He said it was intimidating to walk up to them. He wants to change that.
At the Alderwood mall plaza, a Lynnwood officer lifted a girl with pig-tail braids on to a patrol motorcycle. She pointed to his vest, asking about each of the gadgets in the pockets.
One kid showed up in uniform himself.
Cops and Kids is a chance to “get to know us better; who we are, how we operate, and why we do what we do,” Deppa said. “We want the public to know we’re here for them anytime and anywhere they need us.”
Caitlin Tompkins: 425-339-3192; ctompkins@heraldnet.com.
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