CMPD Officers & Their Families Meet with Neighbors at Peace Party

CHARLOTTE, NC – Blue lights and crime scene tape are an all too familiar sight in recent months.

So far, Charlotte has seen 30 homicides in 2017. That’s more than double the 14 cases we had at this point last year.

The violence hasn’t gone unnoticed — even by the youngest people in the community.

Sunday, 7-year-old Brooklynn invited officers and their kids to Nevin Community Park for a “Peace Party” to meet the families who live in her North Charlotte neighborhood.

“Just so everybody can understand that everybody’s life means something. And everybody has families to go home to,” explains Brooklynn’s mother Alicia Jones.

Jones says the idea for the get together came after recent shootings — and a distrust sensed in the community.

“The hate for the officers and she just wants people to know that they have families too and that our lives are valuable as well as theirs,” Jones says.

North Division Captain Ryan Butler says it’s a great opportunity for officers to have positive interactions with the community.

“Most often we end up coming in contact with somebody because of a call for service, and this is a time where we can set that aside and fellowship just as people in the community of Charlotte,” Butler says.

Something unique is the opportunity for officers’ kids to bond with children in the neighborhood.

“For them to see us, just as regular people, just as they’re regular people and their moms and dads are regular people. And have that, foster the relationships as they become older adults,” Butler says.