Hillsboro Police Using Heat Wave to Spread Kindness

By Kelsey Watts

HILLSBORO, OR (KPTV) -

This long stretch of hot weather can be hard for us to deal with, but police officers in Hillsboro are using it as an opportunity to spread a little kindness.

FOX 12 rode along with patrol Officer Tracy Hinkelman Monday, on the ninth consecutive day of temperatures reaching at least 90 degrees.

She packed a cooler in her back seat filled with ice cold bottles of water and Gatorade, and handed them out to anyone who would take them.

“It’s one of the easiest things I can do to help somebody out that I come across on a hot day,” she explained. “I just go on enough calls where you run across these people over and over and you see the need.”

For most people, having a police officer approach them is a sign they’ve done something wrong.

But when Officer Hinkelman stopped only to offer a bottle of water, you could see the surprise on the faces of the people she met.

She said it’s not just about the water, it’s about being proactive and building relationships.

“It kind of breaks down barriers a little bit with some people,” she said. “Especially in this day and age, it’s important to build that relationship with citizens, with the community, outside of basic policing.”

One of the people she met Monday was Brandon Krzemiski.

“It really does take you a little off-guard when strangers approach you and say, ‘Here, have some water.’ Not too many people are very kind-gestured anymore,” Krzemiski told FOX 12. “I know a lot of people around here think the police are out to dog us and harass us, but they’re out here doing their job just like any of us.”

Officer Hinkelman didn’t just stop to help people who are homeless or beggars on the side of the road, but also families with small children and workers stationed outside doing construction.

It’s something she started doing in the hot weather two or three years ago, and she’ll keep doing it as long as the summer sun lasts.

“I like to connect with people and just talk with them,” she said. “They don’t expect that.”

The Hillsboro Police Department provides the water and Gatorade.

Article/Source: http://www.kptv.com/story/38771024/hillsboro-police-using-heat-wave-to-spread-kindness