If you’ve been to the Cullman Police Department’s annual Community Cookout (which, by the way, is coming up soon), or taken your kids to the department’s Second Avenue headquarters for Trunk or Treat at Halloween, you may not realize it — but there’s one thing that those, and other community-focused department programs, have in common.

That something (or someone) is Sgt. Adam Clark, who for the past five years has served as the police department’s coordinator of community programs. It’s an unofficial, voluntary title, and it requires Clark to put in extra effort — and hours — on top of his daily duties as a financial crimes investigator.

But it’s a role that Clark, a fourth-generation officer raised near Flint, Michigan, says has been in his blood since childhood.

“When I was growing up in Michigan, my dad — who was the chief of police in a town called Burton — was always part of Burton Neighborhood Housing, and during Christmastime we would go around and deliver food to families in need. It’s always been in my blood, and I really enjoy serving my community,” says Clark.

“The thing is, as a police officer, you’re not here just to make arrests. You’re here to serve your community. In these times, I think you really need that. With all the bad stuff that makes it into the national news about incidents involving citizens and law enforcement, the police are to blame sometimes, too. So the bottom line is that, if you are in law enforcement for the right reasons, you have to build a relationship with your community.”

That’s exactly what the department, with guidance from chief Kenny Culpepper and an outsized dose of enthusiasm from Sgt. Clark and his colleagues, has done.

Since taking up the department’s community policing programs, Clark has helped introduce the Community Cookout, Trunk or Treat, the Christmas Shop with a Cop program, Coffee with a Cop citizen meet-ups, crime prevention seminars for local banks and businesses, and scam prevention sessions for local seniors.

“We do the talks with our financial institutions and the Chamber of Commerce to help try to prevent people and banks in our community from getting ripped off and defrauded,” Clark explains. “And we’ve recently started speaking at senior centers, because we have had quite a few elderly folks getting scammed for a lot of money.

“While I’m thinking about that, there’re two things I want to emphasize to people: Lock your stinking car doors! We have a lot of breaking and entering crimes around here. And please — get your Social Security card out of your wallet and lock it up somewhere. Do not carry your Social Security card with you when you go anywhere. You don’t need it, and it’s a gateway for identity thieves.”

Why all the extra effort to keep the police in close contact with citizens? Because, says Clark, Cullman is a place that’s not only worth protecting (part of a police department’s mission) but enriching as well.

“Growing up around Flint…well, Flint’s not the nicest place in the world, and there wasn’t a lot going on. To me it is just a better quality of life down here,” he explains. “The values of the people down here are a lot different than those up there. Don’t get me wrong: I love Michigan. I love my Wolverines, and I would not trade my days up there for anything.

“But Cullman is a special place. It has grown exponentially; it really has, and it’s gone from just this little town to a place that people have actually heard of and want to be. People want to come to Cullman. I work some down in Birmingham each week, and some of the guys there talk about going up to Cullman to get away from home. People are actually traveling from there to here — it’s a special place, and I want everybody to take care of it. We’re lucky we have a great police force; a great fire department. We’re blessed here, and not a lot of other places have what we have.

“We get so much support from our business owners for our community programs. Without them, our community policing program probably wouldn’t exist. Even Jack Aces, the local motorcycle riding club — they did a car show for us and gave a large donation this year. You just don’t get that kind of engagement and support everywhere you go.”

Of all the local events he helps organize, Clark says his favorite is the Community Cookout. Held at the Festhalle in the Warehouse District, the event draws people out for free food, grilled and served up by police volunteers. It’s always on a Friday, it’s always held around lunch time, and it’s always heavily attended. This year, the cookout will be held on Friday, April 13.

“It’s probably my favorite thing that we do. I really enjoy it,” Clark says. “This will only be our third year to do it. It’s sponsored by Cullman Cosmetic and Family Dentistry this year, and we really wouldn’t be able to do it without them. Like a lot of our businesses, they are very supportive of all our community policing programs. Last year we had about 400 or 500 people show up. This year, we expect to serve about 1,000.”

Maybe there’s a connection between Clark’s love of putting himself around people and his long-held passion for food. If he hadn’t become a police officer, chances are strong he might have ended up in the restaurant business.

“I actually went to chef school before I decided to go into this,” he says. “I would love, still, to open my own restaurant one day. What I do miss about Michigan is that they have a lot of mom-and-pop kind of diners. We have the Busy Bee, but not a lot more than that down here. That would be something I’d really like to do.

“I do like the security of my job here: the insurance, the benefits, knowing I’m going to have a pension when I retire. And it’s scary just to jump in where you’re working seven days a week with no benefits, where the restaurant starts to own you instead of you owning it…but I would love it.”

When he isn’t on the job, or helping coordinate one of the department’s outreach programs, Clark and his wife Tawanna spend a lot of time staying active with their four children. “I like my family time. I help coach my son’s baseball team,” Clark says. “All my kids play sports, all the time, and that’s what our life is: work and sports, usually. My kids go to Oneonta because my wife is the school nurse there, and that works out really well.”

Strengthening the ties between law enforcement and the people it protects and serves helps build trust, and goes a long way toward integrating the police department into the fabric of the community, Clark says. That’s just as important as the functional aspects of police work: investigating crimes, responding to calls, and apprehending suspects.

“We’re not just here to put people in jail,” Clark says. “We’re here to correct behavior. It’s easy to lose sight of that. When someone’s getting ripped off, I like to see somebody pay for that, and that is a big part of what we need to be doing.

“But when you get out there and engage the people in your community, it helps you realize that police work is really about making your community a better place — not just by going after criminals, but by helping people who need your help. We actually need the support of the community, and we’re fortunate to have so much of it here. When we’re able to reach out and help people, it lets them know we appreciate the quality of life they’ve helped to build here in Cullman.”