NEW MIDDLETOWN — Kendall Williams initially was rather frightened and unsettled when he found himself amid a strong police presence, even though it was an escort.

In a short time, however, he buried the fear, then caught, hooked and reeled in a far different set of feelings.

“I’m not scared anymore,” Kendall, a fourth grader at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Youngstown, said.

Part of the reason his fear evaporated and was replaced with excitement and happiness was because of Malik Mostella, the Youngstown Police Department’s community liaison, who partnered with Kendall to catch, then toss back, a few fish during the annual Cops and Bobbers event Friday morning at the New Middletown Farmers and Sportsmen Club, 3341 E. Calla Road.

An estimated 30 Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary fourth and fifth graders who partnered with area law enforcement personnel cast their lines in a lake filled with bluegill, carp, crappie, trout and other types of fish.

Agencies represented were the Youngstown Police Department, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

The three-hour gathering was about more than merely hooking a few bluegill, however. The main thrust was to give the young participants a memorable experience while allowing them a fun opportunity to view police officers in a more positive light, Lareane Nuby, the school’s social worker, noted.

She tries to maintain this ideal via planning numerous events and bringing law enforcement to the school, with the hope of fostering greater understanding and trust, Nuby said, adding that the Cops and Bobbers event was the first fishing trip for many of the students.

“I’m just out at the lake with people helping them fish,” Mostella said.

The gathering also helped the students see that it doesn’t matter if he and the others are authority figures; they also are people who want the young people to learn something new, as well as see that fishing requires patience — as do many facets of life they will encounter — Mostella explained.

Echoing that sentiment was Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, who said the fishing expedition also was about providing additional connections for the students. Fishing is valuable largely because the young people can learn valuable character lessons, as well as foster positive interactions with officers and others, Brown added.

“It’s a chance for them to see they’re just people who have a job to do,” the mayor continued.

In addition, fishing can encourage team building and stronger peer-interaction skills, both of which the students can use in many areas of their lives well into adulthood. They also can view police officers through a different lens, such as seeing them as role models, Principal Eric Hall noted.

His students see the school resource officer on a regular basis, as well as those who patrol their neighborhoods, but a gathering such as Friday’s Cops and Bobbers gives them a chance to get to know police officers “as an extension of their families,” said Hall, who partnered with Amya Hunt, a Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary fourth-grader who reeled in a 3-inch bluegill.

“It’s very cool and a lot of fun and it’s motivating,” Amya said about her inaugural fishing adventure, while expressing joy about being in the company of law enforcement.

Casey Kelly, a 10-year officer with the Youngstown Police Department, who helped spearhead the event, said he greatly enjoys being part of community-outreach efforts. Kelly, who is with the 5th Ward Community Policing Unit, thanked the sportsmen’s club for opening its doors to the police, students, parents and others.

Bruce Palmer, who served five years with the department, founded the event in 1995, then known as “Hooked on Fishing, not on Drugs.” It was eventually rebranded, but the overriding goals are similar, he said.

Palmer, a substitute teacher in the Youngstown City Schools who also serves with the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 28 and coached the Chaney High School football team, said the fishing expedition helps to build solid bridges among students, police officers, the schools and the community at large.

It also reinforces that many people in varying capacities care about the young people and what’s in their best interest, Palmer said.

“Gain their heart and you gain their mind,” he added.