Kickball with the cops in Luxemburg builds trust with local families

Matt Joski stepped onto the field at Luxemburg Youth Park on July 3, 2026, for Kickball with the Cops, using the game to meet families in a setting far removed from a patrol car or a public meeting. The Kewaunee County sheriff, who will finish his term and retire on January 5, 2027, after 33 years in law enforcement, said, "This is what it’s all about."

The event’s value was in the format itself. Kickball is simple, familiar and open to kids and adults alike, which made the park a better setting for easy conversation than a formal outreach session would have been. Joski was one of the participants, and that mattered: instead of standing at a microphone, he was on the same field with residents, part of the play rather than apart from it.

That approach lines up with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which says consistent, positive engagement is central to trust and legitimacy. The office defines community policing around collaborative partnerships between law enforcement and the people they serve, and a 2024 COPS Office framework says agencies use specific outreach events, including youth programs, to build those relationships.

Luxemburg fit into a broader pattern already visible elsewhere in Wisconsin. Milwaukee’s third annual 414 Trust Kickball Tournament in 2023 brought together the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, Milwaukee Police Department and Wauwatosa Police Department, and it was aimed at children ages 9 to 14. That kind of repeated use matters because it shows kickball is not being treated as a novelty. It is being used as a low-pressure way to get officers and families in the same place, with the same rules and the same chance to talk while the game unfolds.

For Joski, the appearance also carried the weight of a farewell year. Local coverage has framed 2026 as a final stretch for a sheriff who has spent more than three decades in law enforcement and is heading toward a January 2027 retirement. At Luxemburg Youth Park, the message was plain enough on the field: the relationship between police and the community can start with something as ordinary as a kickball inning, if both sides are willing to show up.