'Just Normal People': Cops Hop on Skateboards
British force sees skateboarding cops as a community outreach tool.
LONDON, Aug. 17, 2007 — -- In the war against crime, some British police officers have a new and unlikely weapon at their disposal: skateboards.
At the initiative of a community council, the Hampshire County Police Department in southern England is sending a handful of uniformed officers to join a group of 11- to 17-year-olds for twice-weekly skateboarding workshops at a park.
Organizers hope the program will improve the police's community relations.
"Skateboarding leads to a better rapport between young people and the police officers," said Sam Mitchell, 28, a community development officer with the Gosport Borough Council, which proposed the scheme.
"When police are involved in these kinds of activities," she told ABC News, "kids realize they are just normal people."
While Hampshire police officers won't be doing pivots, heelflips or otherwise getting around on skateboards while on duty, organizers expect the program to cut crime.
"One of the main aims was to create a diversionary activity so young people wouldn't engage in anti-social behavior," said Mitchell of the initiative, which was designed to coincide with summer holidays here.
After a similar program last year — one that involved soccer instead of skateboards and that was implemented simultaneously with an increase in neighborhood policing — a Gosport neighborhood saw crime drop 28 percent from the year before, organizers told ABC News.
Workshops are held at a skate park outfitted with ramps for skilled boarders and a promenade for those feeling less confident.
About 30 youngsters and two to five officers turn up for each class.
Police attendance rates vary depending on whether "there are other instances that require the officers' attention, more serious than this," Mitchell said.
Then "they'll be called away," she said.
All skateboarding students are supposed to wear helmets for protection.
But their teacher says the younger students clearly have the upper hand.
"The kids try to teach the police some tricks," skateboarding instructor Geoff Else, 23, told ABC News. "I think that's what they really like. Rather than the adults being in charge, the kids know more, and I think that makes the kids feel good."
