On the streets, police play many roles, but in Aurora, it's what the Police Academy doesn't teach the officers that often goes the furthest.
"I think we just need to build that relationship with the community," said Aurora Police officer, Ricardo Hargrove.
Such was the case last Thursday when Aurora officers, Ricardo Hargrove and Thomas Gallimore, rolled up to a home on the 17400 block of East Temple Drive.
"He was closed off, mean look, arms crossed," Officer Hargrove described of the 17-year-old who lived with his family at the home.
It turns out, the teen, in a heated argument, punched a hole in the wall of his home. So the officers sat down and talked to him about how to deal with his anger and be a better role model to his siblings.
"Toward the end of the conversation, he looked like a kid who just had a bad night," Hargrove said.
The teen, stayed on the officers' minds even after they left. So the next night, the pair returned, armed with supplies to fix the hole purchased with money from their own pockets.
"You could see that he was totally a different person from the guy I saw the night before," Hargrove described.
The officers worked with the teen, instructing him how to fix the wall. As he patched the hole, another transformation began to take shape.
"I guess he had the look of relief that we were gonna help him out," Hargrove said.
"When I read that,I was just beaming," said Aurora Police Chief, Nick Metz.
For the police chief, these stories are nothing new. He said being a cop has never been tougher, which is why he encourages his officers to get out in the community and show people they are more than just the badge.
"This is probably the most difficult time in my 31-years in law enforcement to be a cop. Right now, I don't think there's been a more important time to really be able to show the community that we're more than just the enforcement arm of the government, that we're part of the community," said Chief Metz.
Take for example, just last week, two Aurora officers donated their own money after a Girl Scout troop's cash box was stolen as they sold cookies from a King Soopers.
"That to me, just really sets the bar of what we're doing," Chief Metz said.