Participants will have to sign a liability waiver, Mattson said. Asked about whether it was a safety risk to have officers armed during the event, Mattson said that officers’ guns are “going to be in their holsters like they normally would, just like if we were chasing a suspect.”

So they canceled this event as well they should have, but I do think it was a tone-deaf but sincere attempt to build bridges.

https://www.kptv.com/2024/10/26/sherwood-pd-cancels-hide-seek-with-cop-event/

But - if you want to get people more comfortable interacting with police in uniform, instead of having police jump out of the bushes and chase them (!) in uniform, how about “Carve pumpkins with a cop” or “bob for apples with a cop”, or at other holidays “color easter eggs with a cop” or etc etc etc.

It’s a little weird that waiting for the holiday where it kinda makes sense to chase people is as far as their creativity could extend here.