Hampton Va. police use music to reach youth

A singing police office is making an impact on at-risk youth in Hampton, Virginia. Office Sean Reyes was once a theater major before changing to law enforcement. That doesn't stop him from using his talents to try to reach the youth of his city. This morning, he and Officer Chip Robertson, the tech geek behind the videos, were on "Fox and Friends" to talk about their music outreach and its effectiveness. This is one of their videos, remixing One Republic with some more positive lyrics.

Remix: "We're All Made of Stars" (No sidebar comments on the ungodly nature of the original song, please. Try to stay focused on what the officers are trying to do: Reach the kids where they're at. Hm. Sounds familiar doesn't it? If not, it ought to.)

Gang violence reached a level in 2013 in Hampton that saw 14 of the city's 21 homicides committed by juveniles. That's when Reyes and Robertson went to work.

I've written the story myself because a lot of the coverage misses the point. WAVY-TV did a story that utterly failed, in my opinion, to show how the police department is trying to reach the "at risk" youth before they come under the "death grip" of influence from the gangs. Fox and Friends was OK, but it was mostly fluff.

We've got a problem in our cities today that largely goes untouched. We read and hear about it, but we don't see anything being done about it. Kids today in the inner city are "throwaways" in society. We don't care. We don't act.

At least these guys are doing something.