In Lake Arthur, basketball is bringing the community together. It's a way the police chief is helping build trust in his office.
Chief Kobi Turner was coming out and playing pick up basketball games at the park and notices that some of the basketballs they were using were not in the best shape.
That's when he decided to go to Walmart and bought six basketballs. Within thirty minutes, all the basketballs were claimed from the police department, but Turner didn't stop there.
"I got with secretary and she posted it on Facebook that we had balls that I was going to be donating. I didn't expect for it to blow up the way it did. Those six were gone in able thirty minutes and we had a couple of other companies out here in Lake Arthur and citizens of Lake Arthur donate some more balls," said Turner.
In fact, the same Walmart where Turner bought his six basketballs, the rest of their stock sold after the Facebook post went live. Now Turner is giving away balls as quickly as they were donated.
When they come to the station, they're like hey do y'all have any balls left? We're very nice to them and we let them come in the police department and grab a ball," said Turner.
Chief Turner is hoping to get more donations from the community. He says he wants to show his community that not all law enforcement officers are bad.
"With all the stuff that's going on in the world today, it's kind of good to have that response, especially from the youth in such a positive way. Something as simple as a basketball can make them say hey maybe this is a good guy," said Turner.
It's a gesture the basketball players at the park and boardwalk appreciate.
"He's a good police officer and he does it for the community and I love it," said basketball player, Omarion Breaux.
Chief Turner wants to do more than just donate the basketballs. He's planning a basketball tournament and hopes it will happen before the summer is over.
"I want to make it an annual thing. So hopefully then I'll be able to meet a lot of the kids that were given balls and I can show them that I still got some skills to be able to play," said Turner.
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