“The aim is to go to where people are and chat with them instead of asking them to come to us,” Ogden Police Chief Eric Young said. “It’s just about building relationships.”

Detective Jim Williams, sitting at a picnic in the pavilion at Jefferson Park with a local mother and her daughter, said the police outreach effort also served to humanize officers. “This is a way we can show we’re real people,” he said.

The Ogden Police Department on Wednesday hosted the second of its new Tacos in the Park outreach effort, luring neighbors with the prospect of free tacos and using the occasion to foster closer ties with the public. After a freeze on such in-person activities, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the department is now getting them back up and running.

Last month, the department also resumed its Morning Coffee with OPD initiative, meeting with the public at Coffee Links, an Ogden coffee shop.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

“The key thing is going out and making sure we build those positive community relationships,” said Diana Lopez, community outreach coordinator for the police department.

Some people may have complaints, which will get a listen, but perhaps more significantly, she hopes those who take part go away with the sense that police are there to serve and protect. “We’re hoping families will remember that, the kids will remember that,” she said, and that they’ll feel comfortable calling police when the need arises.

Community Police Officer William Kirshner, who has a beat in the neighborhood around Jefferson Park, echoed that sentiment. “We’re just here to do a job and keep them safe,” he said.

More Tacos in the Park and Morning Coffee with OPD events are scheduled at locations around Ogden. The first Tacos in the Park event was held last month at Liberty Park, and they’re also to be held in August and September while weather will dictate if more are scheduled into the fall.

Crystal Hicks, who lives around Jefferson Park, was on hand at Jefferson Park with her 4-year-old daughter Raylynn, sitting with Williams and Beau Ellis, a community police officer.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

“My daughter wants to be a cop when she grows up,” Hicks said, so she wanted to make sure the young girl — who also dreams of being a firefighter and a gardener — could mix with officers.

Beyond that, Hicks noted the guarded view some have of police, saying events like Tacos in the Park can help thaw relationships. “Especially with everything going on right now, kids having a positive interaction with police can change their view of them,” she said.

Another man — who declined to give his name, worried about backlash from neighbors — lauded the Ogden police effort. He noted some of the local issues — loud public arguments, drug use and dogs running off leashes. Indeed, some weeks he’ll find upwards of 10 used syringes while walking his dog.

“That’s not just here in the park. It’s the whole neighborhood. It’s sad,” he said.

Young said there’s no way to measure if such outreach efforts lead to crime reduction. “But I know relationship-building matters,” he said.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner