Brevard Cops and Youth Strive for Understanding
Youth leaders participate in a clean-up. |
Over 200 youth attended the Youth Crime Prevention Summit. |
They say kids are people too, but so are police officers.
At the Youth Crime Prevention Summit last fall more than 200 Brevard County youth got to see the human side of the men and women in blue. In turn, police officers held candid conversations about how kids can get along with the “po po” and handle peer pressure.
Delores McLaughlin, Site Coordinator for the Diamond Square Weed and Seed site in Brevard County, FL, considers any proactive involvement between officers and youth to be community policing, and she sees it working.
“It is an opportunity to build a rapport with neighborhood kids,” she said. “When the kids hear it from the police, it's a little bit different than hearing it from parents.”
For some kids, hearing officers tell stories about their childhoods is something of an eye-opener. But the police are also there to tell them to stay away from drugs and to teach them how to protect themselves, and to know their rights.
The summit, which is held annually for 9- to 17-year-olds, has had strong police involvement and leadership from the start; officers have planned and presented most of the workshops. In addition, school resource officers have identified specific youth and encouraged them to attend the summit and other prevention activities.
Although the summit may be the high point of the year—with high profile speakers, T-shirts, and a crowd from not only the targeted site but all over the county—McLaughlin is constantly working on developing new programs. Ongoing options include a scouting program in the Safe Haven for young boys and girls, a leadership program for older children that runs service projects such as cleaning up the properties of elderly residents, and a youth employment training program for teens ages 14 to 16.
Every year, about 100 kids come through the different programs that the site runs, and 25–30 kids come year after year, according to McLaughlin.
With an eye toward sustaining all of its programs, the site created the Alliance for Neighborhood Restoration (ANR), a nonprofit corporation, in 2001. ANR partners with many other organizations to serve resident-identified needs. In its mission statement, ANR explains how, together with the Brevard County Family of Housing Authorities, it uses the Weed and Seed strategy and provides young people and adults with “alternatives to crime and violence and teaches them how to divert anger and confusion into positive actions.” Other ANR services and resources include computer labs, after-school tutorial programs, visual and performing arts activities, family literacy programs, employability skills training, and crime and drug prevention classes.
McLaughlin's goal for the site is simple:
“We have to keep the funding coming so we can maintain and expand,” she said.
For more information, contact:
Delores McLaughlin
Diamond Square Site Coordinator
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