WARSON WOODS, Mo. – A barber shop in Warson Woods brought the community and police together for Clippers and Cops Wednesday. The organization has been visiting local barbershops in the St. Louis area for just over a year.
“The barbershop has always been the heartbeat of the community,” Raymond Patterson, Clippers and Cops first-time attendee, said. “The barbershop is where people can talk about social issues, relationship issues, the next good club to go to and to have fun.”
Patterson teaches an entrepreneurship workshop class to high school students and said he sees the need of the community firsthand, which is what brought him to Up Next Barbershop.
“If the police officers are willing to come to the barbershop, that’s really showing a great effort in helping resolve, you know, simple bumps that we have with officers and people in the community,” he said.
Some people came out just for a haircut and others were there to discuss the main topic: investigations.
“(The topic was about) homicide investigations and how they go and how they can fail and sometimes it is not the police’s fault. Sometimes it’s a number of reasons on why the case falls apart,” Ty Dennis, founder of Clippers and Cops, said.
Dennis is a retired Atlanta police officer and said his passion is working with the community.
“I feel like we’re police reform. We’re being apart of the community, hearing the cries of the community trying to invoke change,” he said.
