Brooklyn Park Students Get Lesson on Traffic Stops
Inside the Brooklyn Park police station, Champlin Park High School student Soora Hamza is learning what it’s like to pull someone over.
Officer Dane Lazenberry is showing him how it’s done.
“We have a script, so each of these stops, it’s easy for me,” explained Lazenberry. “Now I can look in the car, because what I’m saying is just scripted.”
Students played the role of both patrol officer and traffic violator.
In this scenario, Hamza questioned someone who was speeding as Lazenberry followed along. It’s up to the student to decide what to do.
“What are we thinking Soora, are we going to tag her?” asked Lazenberry.
Hamza opted for a warning.
“I respect that decision,” said Lazenberry.
Hamza is one of a dozen students from Champlin and Park Center high schools who are part of the Chief’s Multicultural Advisory Team, which Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said is a way to build transparency in the community. This is the first year that youth are part of the team.
Led by community liaison Arianne Bartels, students meet monthly with police.
“It’s cool to be on the other side,” said Hamza, a junior at Champlin Park High School. “I’ve been pulled over, so it’s cool to see from a police officer’s perspective.”
Officer Dane Lazenberry instructs student Soora Hamza how to approach a traffic stop.
The monthly meetings are also a way to ask questions and share concerns.
“I’ve never really learned how it feels to be pulled over, but even watching different media and how that’s portrayed, it kind of scares me,” said Shalom Atle, a student at Park Center High School.
Park Center student Terriana King also shared what she was hoping to learn.
“Not everyone knows how to control their emotions when they get pulled over, so just learning what to do and how to communicate with the officer,” said King.
For police, it’s another way to break down barriers.
“It’s a difficult job to explain, because so much of it is in the gray as we would say,” explained Lazenberry. “There’s so many different variables.”
For the students, it’s an opportunity to share with their friends what they learned.
“They’re not really out to get you,” said Hamza. “They’re just trying to keep the roads safe.”
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Champlin Park High School
Park Center Senior High School
