One of the biggest questions this week is how to improve the relationship between the police and the public.
The Fort Worth Boys and Girls Club is trying something simple: just getting to know each other.
The Club held a big basketball tournament Thursday afternoon between different branches from around the city. Each team's coach and mentor is a Fort Worth police officer.
On the sidelines of the Cavile Branch Boys and Girls Club, you’ll find a woman used to serving on the front lines.
“Officer Terry, she’s a really cool cop, she is! She’s like my grandmother,” said 14-year-old Tamiaya Ferguson.
“What, what??” said Fort Worth Police Officer Margaret Terry, overhearing the ‘grandmother’ reference.
But whether that’s the right word or not, Terry is posted at the Boys and Girls Club to become family.
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“We want these kids to know that we are approachable, we’re touchable,” said Terry. “We want these kids to know that we have their best interests at heart and we want to bridge that gap.”
It’s a gap that’s seemed to grow over the past couple weeks. The kids at the Boys and Girls Club feel it.
“I see that it’s kind of breaking apart and we should try not to break apart,” said 16-year-old Sir Marc Sanders. “We should try to come together and stop the violence and be one unit and be the United States of America, the best country in the world. That’s what we should try to be.”
The day after the Dallas shooting, Terry sat down with the kids to answer tough questions.
“We’re expected and held to a standard and we have to respect the citizens,” said Terry. “We’re here for the citizens, to protect the citizens and I want these kids to feel like they’re protected.”
The teens are mourning the officers, too, some planning trips to the DPD memorial.
“To show love for the families and show that we care and show that we have respect for them,” said 15-year-old Dasja Ross.
“Somebody’s kids just lost their father. Somebody’s wives just lost their husbands,” added 17-year-old Camerin Williams.
The teens say they do sometimes feel their community is unfairly targeted.
However, Sanders said, “It’s not the right way to take it, by getting revenge on the wrong people. If we’re going to get revenge, we should get revenge on the right people, but do it in the right way, by taking them to court and trying to get them prosecuted.”
Lessons in fair play, from a coach who's breaking down barriers in her quickly growing family.
"A cool grandma? Wow, wow,” said Terry, while walking out the door with a group of the kids.
Terry has been a Fort Worth police officer for 30 years. The rest of the year she’s a school resource officer and spends the whole summer with the Boys and Girls Club.
She says her heart is broken for the Dallas Police Department, but it doesn’t shake her service.
