Denver Officers, High School Students Meet To Find Common Ground
By Jeff Todd
DENVER (CBS4) - With the hope to bridge the gap between younger generations and law enforcement, a new kind of approach was taken inside of Manual High School in Denver on Wednesday.
"Improv is a tool that is a great equalizer. Improv requires that people have to be vulnerable and a little bit silly and put their guard down," said Lainie Hodges, a Manual High alumnus and development specialist, who lead the group meeting.
Six officers from the Denver Police Department played games and interacted with a room full of students after school, before sitting down for an in-depth conversation. Four of the officers grew up in North or East Denver, so they had a foundation to relate to the students.
"The games are a way to lessen that tension and lets us be a bit more vulnerable. You have to create the environment for this type of conversation before you jump into it. And the improv games are intentional in that," Hodges said.
The improvisation games led to laughter for officers and students and broke the ice as the group sat down for an hour-long talk.
"I expected a lot of anger just in light of things that have been going on in the United States, and it was the complete opposite -- just that they're misunderstood," Cpl. Ron Hackett with Denver Police and a Manual alumnus said.
"It's important for our young people to hear that perspective, and on the flip side it's very important for our officers to hear what our young people are going through," Hodges said.
"I think it was good getting an understanding of the cops' perspective and them understanding how we feel. And I think it's a great step to a better community," said Bayshaun Orr, a sophomore at Manual.
Hodges says she's hoping to increase numbers for a meeting in the spring with more officers and more students at Manual.
"I was very touched by the emotions that were allowed to come out tonight and the way the entire group held those emotions and comforted each other and heard each other. That's what we're going to need to do to build a stronger community is understand each other instead of judge each other," Hodges said.
Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.
