Community engagement: Police play ‘quickball’ with School 17 students for Faith & Blue weekend

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Today marks the beginning of National Faith and Blue weekend. Rochester Police Department officers, Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies, probation officers, state troopers and members of the FBI stopped by the Rochester City School District’s Enrico Fermi School 17 for a game of “quickball.”

The goal? To show students that officers do everything they can to get out into, and engage with, the community.

“I think it’s really important to provide our students with different opportunities that bring in what they see in the community. Sometimes — we know what’s going on, right, and some of the feelings that the community has about law enforcement. And so bringing them in to a safe place and building those relationships in an environment where our kids feel like we always have their best interest at heart,” School 17 Principal Damaris Saltares said.

The Rochester Police Department will also host a “Walk by Faith” Saturday starting on Favor Street.