SANTA CRUZ >> NAACP Santa Cruz joined forces with the Rev. Christopher Drew to throw a peace party on the grounds of Garfield Park Community Church on the Westside of Santa Cruz Sunday and they invited the law.

As DJ Sparkle spun the music of Bob Marley, Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputies and Santa Cruz police officers walked through the party, chatting with members of the community.

“It’s about community building. We invited them in an effort to help everyone get along and get to know one another,” said Ariba Alston, an executive board member of NAACP Santa Cruz.

Chief Deputy Craig Wilson of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said staying in touch with the community is an important component of his agency’s commitment to its 21st Century Policing initiative.

“You have to encounter the community and be a part of it on a personal level to understand it. The important part is taking those relationships back out into the street and applying them,” Wilson said. “That’s what 21st Century Policing is all about.”

For Alston, however, community building was secondary to the NAACP’s primary mission this election year — voter registration.

“We’re taking part in a national voter registration drive in an effort to get everyone to the polls in November,” Alston said. “That’s priority one.”

For many of the children at Sunday’s event, priority one was having a good time.

Stellaria Entertainment and Aerial Arts Santa Cruz performed a dance routine while suspended in the air, Pet Shop Santa Cruz set up a petting zoo full of exotic snakes and Exit Santa Cruz constructed an Escape Room to challenge participants’ wits.

There were also some uniquely NAACP-themed children’s activities such as “Pin the Scales of Justice on Lady Liberty” and a Racial Bias Scavenger Hunt that sent kids around the church campus in search of examples such as “In school, the textbooks and other materials often show people of my race in stereotypical roles.”

The Rev. Christopher Drew said Sunday’s peace party was the result of an interfaith dialogue that occurs over beers once a month.

“It’s a 21-and-up deal, of course, but we all get together and drink a few beers and talk about how we can improve relations in Santa Cruz. We’d wanted to do something with the NAACP for a while so this seemed like a great opportunity,” Drew said.

Drew said he was also pleased to see law enforcement had accepted the invitation.

“I’m from the South where you simply wouldn’t see the police at an NAACP event like this. I think it’s awesome,” said Drew, who moved to Santa Cruz from Hilton Head, South Carolina three years ago.

Lt. Christian LeMoss of the Santa Cruz Police Department said he was please to be invited.

“It’s great to mix with the community, say hello and support their cause,” LeMoss said. “Pretty good way to spend part of the afternoon.”