Beloit PD’s basketball tournament showcases human side of officers

BELOIT, Wis. (WTVO) — The Beloit Police Department held a basketball tournament to connect with those they serve on Saturday.

The three-versus-three basketball competition was held at Beloit’s Boys and Girls Club. The tourney showed officers in a different light.

“Basically, just to get the community engaged with the police officer,” said Beloit Police Officer and Event Organizer Terrell English. “We had a police officer team in there, so they should get to see the officers in a different light, playing basketball, having conversations with them, and basically just bringing the whole community together.”

Officer Darryl Thornton, among others, had a chance to compete with members of the community.

“It’s awesome. I’ve been a Beloit officer for eight years now. I’ve participated in this for the last three years,” Thornton explained. “It’s awesome that citizens get to see us in a different light instead of just in a uniform all the time. They get to see us, you know, our athletic backgrounds. So this is awesome.”

Citizens like eighth grader Estavan Flores and his team said it was a great experience.

“It’s like such a small, small town like this. Like, there’s nothing really around us,” said Flores. “So, it’s a good thing that they like to produce this, and we could also get this around our city.”

English could not agree more with this sentiment.

“I can drive my squad car down the road now, and they can see us and say, hey, I remember the basketball,” said English. “And, you know, they’ll be able to help us. We just have a good time.

“Police officers are just as human as they are, and just being able to talk to them in conversations is what police officers really look for,” English concluded.