BLUEFIELD, WV (WOAY) – The Bluefield Police Department is holding A Police Explorers Program this weekend.
The event is meant to connect youth with police officers so they get a better understanding of what first responders do. The event will teach youth about what police officers do and what they specifically do to serve their communities.
Brian Copenhaver, a sergeant at the Bluefield Police Department, hopes to help kids understand the importance of police officers in their communities.
“We’re seeing kids that were scared of us. We didn’t want that. So by doing it this way, through this community connections event and the explorers program. We’ve been able to talk to the kids and they understand, hey, we’re just humans just like they are. We just wear a badge,” Copenhaver said.
The program originally started in many other cities around the region before coming to Southern West Virginia, where the Bluefield Police Department picked up on it and has since been doing it for many years.
The event will be held this Saturday at 1 P.M. at the Tiffany Manor.
