A simple act of thoughtful kindness by a Greenbelt police officer and his department has replaced a potential source of conflict with the opportunity for positive encounters with law enforcement. The mask initiative at Buddy Attick Park was begun prior to the flash-point of George Floyd’s murder and exemplifies the department’s ongoing philosophy, not a reaction to the tragedy.
Summer at Buddy Attick Park is always a crowd-pleaser, but this year county regulations require most visitors to wear a mask. Up to 40 percent of park visitors don’t know this and arrive without them.
Positive Policing
The Greenbelt Police and the Park Rangers have the duty to enforce these regulations and doing so means not only tears and disappointment for visitors being turned away but the possibility for an escalating confrontation made all the more likely by the current nationwide volatility in community/police relations.
Enter Greenbelt Police Captain Gordon Pracht. In a recent conversation relating to masks at the police station and with no inkling of the events about to unfold in Minneapolis, he floated the idea of the Greenbelt Mask Makers supplying masks for distribution at the park.
The Mask Makers, who have now delivered well over 5,000 masks to the community and local institutions, thought they could do it and Master Mask Maker Sylvia Hester went to work on an initial batch of 350 – an estimated two weeks’ worth of distribution. These have been delivered to Captain Pracht and are in addition to the steady flow of approximately 250 to 300 masks and scrub caps per week made and delivered to local institutions by a team of over 30 seamsters and supporters. The park masks are similar to those destined for hospitals but more basic in finish and thus more rapidly made. Though one-time masks could be distributed with similar cost and less effort, the fabric masks are washable and reusable, protecting recipients beyond their visit. They are also less likely to remain as litter.
The first park masks were delivered in time for the weekend of May 31 and the rangers and police officers patrolling the lake handed them out with smiles and a good vibe. With park visitors representing Prince George’s County’s diverse racial and ethnic mix, these interactions gave families from a wide variety of backgrounds a direct and positive experience with the uni-formed officers and rangers. There were no incidents relating to mask enforcement.
Generosity If this wasn’t enough of a coup, Hester was chatting with her health insurance broker, Eric Case (www.getbetterbenefits.com) and when he asked what she’d been up to – told him about her mask making and, in particular, about the lake initiative. Inspired by the perfect symmetry of her dedicated work and the pressing need, Case immediately volunteered a generous donation from his company to underwrite masks for the police initiative. He said he’d been pondering on a direct way to help and thought it the perfect opportunity. By providing resources for the park masks, his donation also leaves more resources for mask and cap making overall. Case was particularly concerned to get masks to children and a good fraction of the masks will be sized for the smaller set. The Mask Makers Facebook page tells the ongoing story of Greenbelt’s mask initiative at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GreenbeltCovid19FaceMask/. The count of cases in the county is high and protective equipment remains in short supply – every mask may save a life.