Halloween is meant to be a spooky but fun night full of treats, not tricks. One police department didn’t quite understand that when they planned a unique event for the community to have “fun interactions” with officers.
Oregon’s Sherwood Police Department announced they canceled a planned Halloween event meant for the community to have the chance to develop relationships with the department after the backlash proved to be too much.
But, some are wondering why this was ever considered in the first place.
An Oregon police department planned to have a ‘Hide and Seek With A Cop’ event for Halloween.
On October 15, Oregon’s Sherwood Police Department posted information about an upcoming event they were hosting. The event was planned for October 30, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
The event, “Hide and Seek With A Cop,” was intended for residents 12 and older. The event information stated that adults could also participate if they wished to.
The plan for ‘Hide and Seek With A Cop’ was billed as ‘basically your only chance to run from the cops without consequences.’
Not much other official information was given regarding the Halloween event.
A TikTok from creator @giyohnly1 included a news clip about the event and provided some of his own commentary. Based on what he said, it sounded like the police officers who participated would be carrying their weapons.
“I’m sure there’s another way to connect with the community without doing the hide and seek in the middle of the night with your weapons,” he said. No official source confirmed if the officers would be armed.
Unsurprisingly, ‘Hide and Seek With A Cop’ was canceled.
The plan to have children (and some adults) chased around in the dark by police officers, whether they were armed or not, did not go over very well.
A Redditor who commented on a reposting of the TikTok video said, “Sounds like hunting humans to me.”
On Facebook, one commenter said, “Intriguing idea, but I don’t think that citizens being more afraid of being killed by cops than by zombies or serial killers is the flex you think it is.”
The police department made another post on Facebook announcing the cancellation.
“Unfortunately, recent media coverage has reshaped the perception of this event, causing concerns about safety,” they said. “We understand how crucial it is to prioritize the well-being of both our community members and officers, and as such, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Hide and Seek with a Cop event.”
The Forest Grove News Times reached out to the department’s public information officer, Paul Mattson, for a comment. He said, “We are choosing not to elaborate further on why the event was canceled. We are really thankful for the amount of community members who have rallied behind us after we had to cancel the event. Unfortunately, there will not be any alternative activities this week.”
Public perception of the police is not in a good place.
Gallup conducted research that found that only 51% of Americans had confidence in the police.
This isn’t surprising, given recent events. The last few years have been riddled with wrongful deaths at the hands of police, with some even being prosecuted for their crimes.
This distrust was on display in the comments section of the department’s Facebook page, where one user noted that they thought the event was funny but also found it “hard to not be afraid of a uniform anymore” after police killed their nephew during a mental health check.
Given the general feeling of distrust surrounding the police, it hardly seems appropriate for them to plan to chase kids while in uniform as a joke.
Canceling this event was certainly the right thing to do, although it really never should have been planned in the first place.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.
