Edina Police Launch Basketball Program at YMCA
The Edina Police Department has partnered with the Southdale YMCA to launch "Cops on the Court," a community engagement program that brings police officers and youth together through basketball activities.
The program was developed in response to an increase in incidents at the gym, according to program organizers. Officers work alongside members of the city's Multicultural Advisory Committee to facilitate basketball games and activities for young participants.
We were seeing some like an influx of incidents there and the gym was kind of feeling a little at loss on how we can bridge that," said a program organizer during a recent presentation to the city. "So we met with the gym leaders and then we came up with the idea that maybe we should just pick a sport they really love and use that as our bridge to come in.
The program assigns one to two officers to each team, with participants receiving jerseys provided by the Southdale YMCA. Activities include basketball games, music, and opportunities for youth to serve as DJs and referees. Local businesses, including Chick-fil-A, have provided food support for the weekly events.
Nick, a community engagement officer with the Edina Police Department, said the program allows officers to connect with youth in a positive environment. The initiative aims to build relationships between police and young people while providing recreational opportunities at the YMCA facility.
Our proprietary artificial intelligence agent analyzed publicly available documents including meeting agendas, minutes, and transcripts to write this story to help inform local residents. Feedback helps us improve, so please consider rating how we did with the thumbs up or down below.
Go deeper on this topic
Research related meeting documents and build a brief — without rewriting the story.
Full analysis
Notable Quotes (5)
Cops on the Court was focused to partner us together to kind of bring this organic relationship between policing and youth because we were seeing some like an influx of incidents there and the gym was kind of feeling a little at loss on how we can bridge that.
So they get to see us and then they drop their ticket in, they sign up on their name and then they get their jerseys which the South YMCA gave to us and then we enter into the gym. There's one to two officers assigned to each team and then they start to practice through working together.
It's all about our officers being able to engage community and engage youth in particular. One to get them busy. Uh two to get them to meet our officers and see our officers in a different light and really just build out the relationships to show that you know we support our youth here in Edina and nearby communities.
Basketball is a big part of why a lot of these kids come to the YMCA. So, we just thought to have something connected to basketball, to connect the kids to a program that allows them to play basketball while also collaborating with the local police. With basketball, it's very inclusive. So, when you're playing basketball, a lot of different people could come together.
It's more of a first name versus officer this, officer that, or maybe met with aggression because they feel uncomfortable. It's more like, 'Hey, Nick, who is a community engagement officer, it was so cool to see you on Cops on the Court.'
Ordinances & Resolutions (1)
Community engagement initiative partnering Edina Police Department, Southdale YMCA, Multicultural Advisory Committee (MAC), and local businesses to facilitate youth-police relationship building through basketball.
Source document
Was this story helpful?
Other Topics from This Document
Cops on the Court Community Engagement Program
Youth Empowerment and Emotional Regulation
Community Safety and Police-Youth Relations
Also from this meeting
Want to know when new stories arrive?
Enter your email to receive updates.
We will not use your email for any other purpose. You can unsubscribe at any time.