Dodging foam bullets part of the beat for EPS officers
Community policing sometimes requires officers to go above and beyond in Edmonton.
Sometimes that means dodging foam darts fired by neighbourhood children at the prompting of your partner.
Edmonton police Const. Cameron Jones and Const. Brendan Fonteyne were doing some proactive enforcement Thursday morning in the southeast of the city.
They regularly patrol the area looking to prevent crime before it starts by getting to know the residents on a personal level.
While doing just that in Mill Woods, Fonteyne spotted some kids playing with brightly coloured Nerf guns.
"They were all saying, 'Hi,' and were really good kids, so I said ... 'If you could light up my partner that would be awesome, I'm sure he would love it too.' " Fonteyne said.
"He had no idea what was happening and just kind of walked into my barrage so it was awesome."
Jones didn't see it coming.
"I said, 'Hi,' to them thinking none the wiser and I heard, 'Get him!' and they jumped off and you saw my reaction. I tried to dodge the darts as best as possible," Jones said.
"They had giant smiles on their faces and I think ... that kids can be kids and that the police aren't bad."
Fonteyne had pulled out his cellphone to record the moment and in the rush accidentally recorded it in the slow-motion setting.
Once the two officers were away at a safe distance, they had a good laugh about the incident and the impressive evasive skills Jones displayed.
Fonteyne then posted the video to social media to share the fun with the public.
"The reason I got a Twitter account in the first place was to show the human side of policing." Fonteyne said.
"Some people see the uniform and pigeonhole us into one group of whatever they believe but that is not always the case. I am trying to show people that we are more than just cops."
