The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) will join forces with Mountain Country 107.3 and SCHEELS to host the third annual BALLTOBERFEST, on October 7, 2023, from 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM at the Colorado Springs Scheels. You can make a difference by donating a new sports ball to support CSPD’s Play COS Program. Through donations, Patrol Divisions are supplied with sports balls (i.e. footballs, soccer balls, basketballs) for officers to keep in their cruisers to give out to kids and teens during their shifts. Join us for a fun family day with Touch-a-Truck with law enforcement vehicles, free In&Out Burgers, a Chalk Art Contest, 20% off sports balls at SCHEELS, and more.
About the Play COS Program:
CSPD is on a mission to increase positive community interactions across the city. Play COS is just a piece of that. Play COS allows our community to interact with officers in an organic, simple, and fun way. Nothing too serious, just officers and community members having a positive interaction.
The program also involves sports/giveaway events in which officers interact with numerous young community members through sports and recreation. The overall goal is for this program to become a long-term, ongoing, sports program that will be a permanent fixture in CSPD’s department-wide community outreach efforts for years to come.
Play COS has been up and running since January 2021, and CSPD officers have already given away over 6,500 hundred sports balls to local kids and teens. There have been 113 Play COS events and donations made to 3 community centers and 34 local schools. Play COS has created over 40,000 positive police/community interactions since its inception. This initiative has also received widespread recognition, with CSPD winning the 2022 International Association of Chiefs of Police Leadership in Community Policing Award. This award recognizes promising practices that utilize effective and long-lasting partnerships to make local, national, and international communities safer.
To learn more about Play COS please visit: https://coloradosprings.gov/police-department/page/play-cos