Bedford Police Turn Complaint Into Community-Building Moment

BEDFORD, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - It's a trend that is sweeping the nation.

Police officers turning complaints into community-building moments. This time Bedford Police used the game of basketball.

When police received a disturbance call from a neighborhood nearby, an officer went to check things out and called for backup, but not for a tense situation.

Officer Jereme Brown needed a teammate who could play ball, because he wasn't about to break up a pick-up game. Something he viewed as old school fun.

"I didn't even have the heart to tell them that we were there on a complaint from a neighbor because they were having fun," Brown said.

Officer Ishmel Henderson arrived. He was the back up. And he's got game. But both officers sensed a "here we go again" attitude from the kids.

"It is exactly that," Brown said. "It's 'oh great here they are. We're going to go through this again'."

"But once they realized we was there to play ball with them, they kind of embraced us and high fived us. Just like we was one of them," said Henderson.

The pair went up against the teens — two on two, with others looking on — and played to a tie This, however, was about much more than basketball.

Brown said, "Just building the relationship with these youth, showing them that they can actually trust the police, that we are there for them, it is going to help us with community policing in the future."

The officers said these kids were in no way disturbing the peace and were being respectful to traffic and neighbors' property.

"Anytime we can just interact with the community on a positive note is always a plus. And I think that most certainly did it," Henderson said.