FAIRFIELD — It was hard to tell who was more excited Friday about discovering the Nidorano, Officer Kathryn McCormick or the little girl she was with.

“He’s right next to your leg, Joe,” McCormick said to Officer Joe Holecek, who took in stride the appearance of the Pokemon creature which could only be seen via a smartphone using the wildly popular “Pokemon Go” app.

The three were part of a gathering organized by Fairfield police next to the Civic Center Pond to both talk with “Pokemon Go” lovers about being safe while playing the game and to use the game to build relationships with community members.

“It is a good way to get out and interact with the kids,” McCormick said. “The main focus is to have fun.”

Sgt. Jeff Osgood said it gives him and other officers “an opportunity to relate with kids and their parents in a fun setting instead of when whatever bad thing is happening in their lives at that moment.”

More than 50 “Pokemon Go” lovers showed up to join more than a dozen police and community service officers, some of whom only started playing that morning.

McCormick started with a short safety talk asking the “Pokemon Go” players to be careful when they play the game and be aware of their surroundings so they don’t wander into streets or, in the case of the Civic Center, fall into the less-than-clean pond.

“Don’t go into places where you wouldn’t normally go and where your dad won’t let you go,” McCormick said.

Public safety departments around the country have been voicing concern about safety since reports about motorists who’ve gotten involved in accidents while playing the game, players who were hit by a car, and gamers who have fallen over a 90-foot bluff or trespassed into a nuclear power plant.

McCormick also asked the players not to go onto other people’s private property without permission.

Fairfield police have not yet had any calls involving “Pokemon Go” players getting hurt or in trouble while playing the game, McCormick said.

McCormick ended her talk telling those present, “All right guys, let’s catch ’em all.”

When it came to playing the game, the police became the students and the youngsters became the Pokemon masters, showing the officers how to catch the creatures.

Young Pokemon hunter Jairo Hermosillo, who already had captured 54 Pokemon by Friday morning, showed up with several friends.

“It is good going out and getting exercise,” Hermosillo said, adding that it was sad that some people have gotten injured while playing the game because they weren’t looking where they were going.

John and Anisa Kinsey, and their 9-year-old daughter Ani Kinsey, said they had already racked up the capture of a couple hundred Pokemon.

“I love the challenge of trying to capture the Pokemon, the excitement and visiting landmarks around here I did not know existed before,” Anisa Kinsey said.

Kinsey said her family came that morning to the event to take part in a fun activity with the police officers “because they have had a bad rap.”

Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ithompsondr.