The summer isn’t over yet, but several Bainbridge Public Safety officers are already planning on how to make the next a bit more special for kids in Bainbridge.

This summer, shift one Captain David Cutchin and the other officers of his shift volunteered some of their free time to spend it with kids from the Friendship House of Jesus, taking them fishing and swimming.

“We just wish we would have started earlier in the summer, but we’ve got ideas for next year,” Cutchin said. “They’re going to know all of us by name at the end of next summer. We want all of these kids to know every officer by name, not because they’ve been in trouble, but because we’ve built relationships with them.”

Building relationships with members of the community is something Cutchin said he thinks will make officers’ jobs a little easier and will keep Bainbridge a little safer.

“This is the true first time BPS has stepped up and said, ‘We wanted to build relationships with the kids at Friendship,’” said Friendship House administrative director Josh Paske. “Fifteen years I’ve been there, and it’s never happened.”

Friday morning, after working a 12-hour night shift, Cutchin and four other officers hosted a pool party for a group of kids at Bainbridge’s city pool as a kind of back-to-school bash before Decatur County classes start up in a couple of weeks. Monday, a group of about 25 kids got a chance to go fishing with officers at the YMCA and Bainbridge High School.

PSO Jason Barlow said that he wants to extend the activities to a youth camp with officers serving as mentors for at-risk youth.

“All the guys on my shift are dedicated to this,” Cutchin said, “and we’re going to be working with Josh some more on future projects.”

Cutchin said that BPS also received a lot of help and support from local businesses like Sammy’s Bait and Tackle, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Dominos and Winn-Dixie.

Along with officers Barlow, Humberto Dean, Tim Mixon and Jason Barlow, Bainbridge College officer Brian Lewis has also been helping BPS.