BERRIEN SPRINGS — Police personnel go to work every day to ensure their communities stay safe, but only once a year do they have the chance to connect with those they serve at the Berrien County Youth Fair.

Tuesday was Law Enforcement Day at the Berrien Springs-based fair, and officers centered in Berrien and Cass counties set up booths in front of their police cars from noon to 6 p.m. to inform the public of safety information while having fun.

At the Buchanan Police Department station, attendees stumbled about like those intoxicated or high.

Drug Abuse Resistance Enforcement Sergeant Harvey Burnett was the cause. He placed goggles that mimic one’s eyesight when drunk and high on willing participants and had them try to throw sacks at targets in a short game of cornhole.

While there were laughs abound, the department’s booth was meant to be educational, Burnett said.

Participants were taught how difficult it is to be coordinated under the influence.

Those participating and those not were both welcome to learn more about types of drugs and alcohol through pamphlets and talks with the officers at the booth, too.

The booths were a great way to connect with the public, Burnett said.

“It’s about building the community relationships. I call it the community-building aspect,” he said. “We want [people] to come out and interact with us as human beings.”

Relationship-building was a common theme among many of the booths. Many manning the booths said Law Enforcement Day events allowed them to build public trust while also sharing helpful information and fun toys.

“Nowadays, every kind of positive interaction with the public is priceless,” said Sergeant Tom LaVanway of the Bridgman Police Department.

His booth was topped with magnets, stickers, accessories with anti-bullying messages and school supplies meant to teach basic principles of safety and kindness to children.

Detective Brian Paynton’s booth was topped with a plethora of accessories, too. Their messaging was meant to promote railway safety, the Niles-based Amtrak police officer said.

Included were paper Amtrak police officer caps, coloring books, pencils, pens and erasers shaped like trains.

The biggest issue he said he speaks to families about is railway trespassing. He often drives his white police car alongside Amtrak stations to make sure no one is doing so.

“Trains can come at any time,” he said. “There’s no turning a train coming left or right.”

That, he said, can lead to people getting hit. So, he promotes Operation Lifesaver, a national campaign to increase public awareness of railway safety.

Two booths down, Niles Police Department Officer Angela Lick was promoting public awareness of the Rape Aggression Defense Systems of Self Defense course taught through her department.

The four-night classes run 12 hours total Oct. 6, 7, 16 and 17. The classes are for women 13 and older and require pre-registration.

Lick said the class is catered to everyone’s personal abilities with personal techniques.

“They can expect to learn risk avoidance and risk awareness, and [we] also teach them a section where we go hands-on. So, we teach them basic striking,” she said.

Lick brought some of the class’ striking protection equipment with her to the booth.

Next to Lick was Officer Paul Komdeur of the St. Joseph Charter Township Police Department, and about 100 yards to her right, were representatives of Michigan State Police.

The group of officers each promoted campaigns that sought to make identifying individuals easier for first responders.

Some gave people the opportunity to add their children or impaired friends and family to databases so first responders could easily identify them in an emergency. Others promoted resources for those with missing children.

Komdeur gave away carriable identification cards that fair attendees could fill out. Then, if they were unresponsive in an event where first responders were called, they could be easily identified.

It’s a new initiative at his township’s police department.

“When the medics would show up, someone would be lying unconscious. We wouldn’t know much about them,” he said.

Not all police personnel were able to share information through pamphlets, free items and word of mouth. Some gave handshakes and slobber.

Deputies Tim Gondeck and Tiff Graves of the Cass County Sheriff’s Office brought their canine companions, Baxter and Nellie.

Nellie helps Graves track down lost, missing and endangered people. Graves said she and Nellie usually find elderly people with Alzheimer’s, dementia or another form of mental illness.

Baxter has been helping calm witnesses and victims at Cass County’s courthouse for the past few months. Gondeck said adding therapy dogs to courthouses is becoming a more common occurrence, as it is meant to help address mental health.

At the fair, however, Baxter and Nellie, like their human partners, set aside their everyday jobs to get to know those they serve better.