CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — At Rockwood Park Thursday afternoon, Sunshine Lee watches her six-year-old daughter Ruby under close eye. Before they start playing, Lee makes sure Ruby has a safety plan.
"You don’t leave this section, we don’t leave the fences, I show her the border, I show her where the exits are," Lee said. "We’ve taught her to memorize my phone number, we made it a song. ‘Where do you live at, where is your home?’ And then she recites it and it rhymes with that. The road rhymes with that so she knows where she lives and know where to go.”
For Cpl. Craig Eckrich with Chesterfield County Police, building connections with families in Chesterfield, like the Lee family, prevents crime from happening in the first place, noting more residents feel comfortable coming to police with questions or crime tips.
“It helps cut down on crime," Eckrich said. "They may be afraid to talk to Officer Eckrich, but you know, ‘Hey, that’s Craig, I see him in the neighborhood, Hey I think you might want to know this.'"
Eckrich has seen the benefit of building connections with the community firsthand.
“Neighbors had been calling us more and more about suspicious vehicles, suspicious people, cutting down on crime," he said.
A single tip can save lives. In Richmond, police said a tip foiled a plan for a mass shooting at a July 4th celebration at Dogwood Dell, potentially saving hundreds of lives.
Eckrich is encouraging people in his county do the same.
“I’ll never say that it’s not worth calling. We’d rather you call and have it be nothing than just put it on the backburner," he said.
Chesterfield Parks and Recreation works with law enforcement to hosts events throughout the year, drawing in thousands of people from across Central Virginia. That department is now working with county law enforcement to prepare for the worst.
"We actually have an incident action plan in place, a police operations plan, months and months of planning, so that if something does arise, we have a plan in place to respond to it," said Community Recreation Manager David Potter.
Eckrich said planning and preparing with different departments, nonprofits, and neighborhoods, as well as encouraging people to say something if they see something suspicious, can make all the difference.
“Always act on your gut. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s probably not right," he said.
National Night Out will be held Tuesday, August 2. Vendors and other groupsto register for Chesterfield's celebrationhave until July 19 to do so.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
