It’s no wonder that kids might be a little scared of police in St. Louis, especially given the liberal media’s ability to paint everything as darkly as possible. However, the more likely scenario is absolutely delightful, and I wish we had officers like this in my neighborhood:

The last time we heard about a cop in the St. Louis area coming across a couple of “kids” in the middle of the street, a young thug ended up dead, a cop’s life was ruined, a town erupted in protests and riots, and a new racial hate group was born.

Of course, what happened in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 is not indicative at all of the typical encounter between police officers and kids in the street, despite what the agenda-driven media will tell you.

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Instead, more often than not, cops coming across kids in the middle of the street results in a conversation, or even a friendly game of pick-up basketball, as was shared recently by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

They posted a video of what they are calling “Community policing at its best!” which shows four officers playing basketball with several young boys and girls on an adjustable hoop in the middle of a street in the often violent neighborhood of Bevo Mills.

Those officers — singled out by name on the department’s social media page as Christopher Rumpsa, Brian DeMatteis, Tracy Cole and Hajrudin Ducanovic — are certainly worthy of recognition for the extra time spent and energy exerted toward making a difference in the lives of the neighborhood children.

The vast majority of the comments on the post were positive, with many congratulating the officers and department on their outreach efforts toward local youth, though naturally there were the handful of detractors and critics.