The Hot Springs Police Department will host its third "Bridging the Gap" event today, which Cpl. Kirk Zaner says will be more about having fun than closing a nonexistent gap between officers and the community.
"I've said it a million times. Our relationship with the community is strong and amazing and this is just one of many events we have where we get to meet the community and they come and meet us," Zaner said Friday.
The "completely free" event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
"This is a family oriented, kid-friendly event and that's the way we want it," Zaner said. "For people to come out with their kids and have a good, safe time and provide a good opportunity for police and first responders to spend time with them."
The inaugural event in 2016 was held at Kimery Park and they had planned to have it there again last year, but the threat of rain on the day of the event led them to reach out to Visit Hot Springs, which was able to accommodate them.
"It was so nice for a multitude of reasons. We had air conditioning; the rain was not a factor. We had plenty of room, bathrooms, and we realized at that point the convention center was the smart place to have it," Zaner said.
"I don't see us changing venues in the future unless it's just not available. If we were to have it at Kimery Park this year, how many people would show up and enjoy themselves in 102-degree weather?"
Officer 1st Class Joey Williams said they already have the convention center reserved for next year's event on June 1.
Zaner said the choice of today's date this year was that it was "one of the earliest dates available and all the kids are out of school." Williams noted they also needed space between today's event and the annual Boo With a Badge Halloween event in October. "It's hard to coordinate both if they were closer together," he said.
Zaner said the first Saturday in June will be the target date from now on for the event. The fact it overlaps with the 13th annual Steuart Pennington's World Championship Running Of the Tubs also being held today "will help," he said.
"You will already have people downtown and about the time the tub races finish and the temperatures start to go up, we'll be opening the doors for our event and people can have fun inside in the air conditioning."
In addition to Hot Springs police, the event will also have representatives from the Garland County Sheriff's Department, Arkansas State Police, Hot Springs Fire Department, Hot Springs Animal Services, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, active duty Army, National Guard, LifeNet and National Park Medical Center's Survival Flight Crew.
"National Park will be bringing their helicopter. We'll have (HSPD) K-9 demonstrations. The SWAT team," he said.
Williams noted the Army would be bringing its bomb robot and "the kids or anyone will be able to operate it." He also noted Child Care Aware, the CALL, and Autism Awareness groups would have informational booths set up.
Hot dogs, chips and other snacks will be provided free and there will be games and activities, including bounce houses and a live-action version of "Hungry, Hungry Hippos," featuring a 30-foot in diameter game for four people.
"Each person is tethered and will run as far as they can to try to get to the middle and grab balls before they are pulled back," Zaner said, noting he anticipated some competition between police, fire, EMTs and sheriff's employees.
"I am throwing the gauntlet down now," he said, laughing. Coming right after the tub races, he said, "I'm not sure the fire department will be used to losing twice in one day."
One of the demonstrations at the event will be using the "Fatal Vision" goggles the department purchased. "These are vision distortion goggles to simulate intoxication. We'll have people doing field sobriety tests, walking a straight line."
Zaner said they let teens try out the goggles at the recent Education in Motion program at Magic Springs Theme & Water Park and "it was very popular. And to have 16- and 17-year-olds coming up to me saying, 'I'm never going to drive drunk,' after wearing them, I knew we made a good purchase."
Sponsors for the event include both Walmart Neighborhood Markets, Flowers Bakery Store, Merritt Wholesale Distributors, Nabisco, Frito Lay Inc., Sam's Club and Hog Wild Events-Playland and Party Rentals.
"We have great corporate sponsors and partners who have donated virtually everything and were glad to do it," Zaner said.
"This is just our way of giving back to the community and saying thank you. And giving families a place to come spend a Saturday with us," he said.
"We have a good relationship and we want to keep it. They've got to see us and talk to us and vice versa. All we're doing is just keeping that dialogue with the community open.
"Hopefully, that way, if they see something that doesn't look right, they will feel comfortable to come talk to us and will know we're here to make the community better. We're all just one big family and we're all in this together."
Local on 06/02/2018