WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is pleased to feature the Frisco (TX) Police Department (FPD) as its “Community Policing in Action” Photo Contest winner for June 2021.

The FPD takes pride in Frisco’s family-oriented environment. “We have the backing of the community. People thank us on the street, even ask to buy our lunch in restaurants,” says FPD Lieutenant Ryan Moore. The winning photo shows Moore shaking hands with a young man participating in the city’s June 6, 2020 march for justice following the death of George Floyd in police custody 12 days earlier.

“I was keeping an eye on the crowd,” said Moore, “driving alongside, talking to people and asking if they needed water, which I had with me. This young man came up to the car and said, ‘We appreciate your being here and I don’t include all law enforcement in the same category,’ so we chatted for a little bit before we shook hands.”

Commenting on the public’s good will and the department’s ability to maintain order during a large event, Assistant Chief Darren Stevens says, “We have a foundational understanding that our job is to serve the people and to do this, we have to be intentional in understanding and respecting people’s differences and their views.”

In describing how the department maintains its culture of respect and community collaboration, Stevens says, “In new hires, we look for open-minded people, individuals who are interested in serving the community and accept the differences in people. The department also actively promotes engagement and communication with the community through programs that support public safety while building positive relationships.”

View the winning photo on the COPS Office website, as well as on the COPS Office’s official Twitter profile and Facebook page. FPD’s commitment to community policing and its collaboration with members of the Frisco community are also chronicled in the June 2021 edition of the COPS Office e-newsletter, the Community Policing Dispatch.

The COPS Office is the federal component of the Department of Justice responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The only Department of Justice agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products, and training and technical assistance. Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to organization for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served. The COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 134,000 officers.

###