Cookeville Police Chief Scott Winfree said Tuesday’s National Night Out serves as a way to build relationships between police and the community.
Winfree said he also wants the community to respect police officers for more than just someone who pulls you over when you do something wrong.
“People need to see us not just as a uniform,” Winfree said. “I think it’s important that the people see us as the people we are, that live in the community that we serve, and it just builds that relationship, and I would like to say in this entire area we have a great relationship with our community.”
Winfree said police officers have a job to do, but also want to help.
“I’ve arrested people for DUI, you know, when I was a patrol officer,” Winfree said. “And several years later, that same person has come up to me and they have come up to me and said, ‘that changed my life. You know, I was heading down the wrong road,’ and they thanked me for doing that. Now, that usually doesn’t happen the night that I arrest them, but you know, a lot of times, after someone has time to reflect, and they kind of see where they are headed, and like I said, I have had several people, not just one, but several people thank me for doing that.”
Winfree said National Night Out will not only consist of fun things to do, like a bounce house, cornhole, and a dunk tank, but will also be educational. Winfree said the police department will focus on drug prevention, drug safety, and traffic safety.
“With traffic safety, we are gonna use what’s called the seatbelt convincer, which is this contraption that we get from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office,” Winfree said. “Ollie Otter will also be there. We are talking about car seat safety for children, so that’s some of the stuff that we will be doing.”
Winfree said several other first responders and law enforcement agencies will be in attendance. The Cookeville Police Department’s National Night Out will be held on Tuesday, August 5, from 6pm-8pm at Dogwood Park.
Winfree said his department has been building relationships with the community before National Night Out by conducting patrol walks through different neighborhoods.
