Cincinnati police offer children’s camp

The stretching 50 children in a Cincinnati police overnight camp Friday were doing was more than their arms raised high to offer how they would show respect to each other.

The eight-week Kim Williams Children in Trauma (CITI) camp includes a weekend-long lock-in style portion of an eight-week program for youths ages 10-13.

Some of the campers talked about redirecting their anger, hygiene and whether they would have to eat pasta or chicken only forever all within the first hour inside a West End school.

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Trauma can be minor, as simple as a fear of hitting one's head, said Cincinnati Police Department Lt. Chantia Pearson. Everyone has some kind of trauma, Pearson said.

Zion Foster, 13, said he wanted to come to camp with the officers.

"I have very bad anger problems," Foster said. 

Doing push-ups at camp when anger comes on helps, he said. 

Pearson pointed out to the group of children that camp is a place where they can learn from their mistakes.

She said Foster and another camper were playfighting for fun. Nobody was hurt, but she asked Foster to think of a way to redirect when he thought of the play fighting.

Foster demonstrated how he has started clapping his hands and walking away instead.

"Here is a place where you can make mistakes," Pearson said to the children. "The world is full of places where you can't make mistakes."