Miami PD Enjoying
Success Saving Black Youth via PAL
by José Pérez
It has been said that the African-American male is the
United States’ most endangered species.
With headlines and lunchtime conversations about low graduation rates
and high incarceration rates, not enough jobs but too many drugs, it is hard
for many not to be discouraged. Yet in
every cloud, there is a ray of sunlight fighting hard to break through and
shine.
The City of Miami Police Department’s Police Athletic
League (PAL) has, according to Lieutenant Bernard Johnson, “been around for
many years.” Recently, however, PAL’s
activities and importance have grown.
The Miami Police’s PAL just finished its second year of offering Pop
Warner football to area youth and the number of children either playing
football or cheerleading doubled to about 300 participants.
All of this comes with news about shootings, gambling, and drug use at youth football games in other parts of South Florida.
All of this comes with news about shootings, gambling, and drug use at youth football games in other parts of South Florida.
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| Photo courtesy of MPD PAL |
What is the difference? Simple, says Johnson, “we have
direct police involvement.” The coaches
for the PAL are all police officers with the Miami PD. “That makes our program
safer because cops always around. This
built-in “security” is something that Johnson says is important to the parents
of the children participating in the football, basketball, cheerleading, karate
and other programs offered by PAL. “Our
parents are very happy and very satisfied with the structure,” says Johnson.
GreslynJoseph, mother of PAL participants Trent and TajahJoseph,
agrees. “For me the biggest appeal is
the sense of security and trust.” Joseph
says she researched other parks and was initially impressed by the respectful
nature of the interactions between the parents and coaches at Curtis Park,
where PAL practices and plays its football games.
But more importantly for the coaches and parents like
Joseph, says Johnson, “our kids are building a relationship with police
officers as role models.” That
relationship transcends the playing fields as the Miami PAL works with students
in the classroom, too. Johnson, along
with fellow police officers like Majors Craig McQueen andDelrish Moss andOfficers
Kelvin Harris andStanley Jean-Paul are
“setting up a better tracking system keep up with [the student-athletes’] grade
point averages,” says Johnson. For the
PAL officers, it is all a big part of keeping Miami’s youth in the park and out
of trouble. In fact, PAL’s motto is
“building playgrounds, not prisons.”
“Our goal is to help raise the GPA” of the young athletes
that come to the PAL, says Johnson, who proudly talked about PAL’s “tutorial programs,
direct counseling, and peer facilitators.”
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| Photo courtesy of MPD PAL |
The fast growth of the program has come mostly from “word
of mouth” as more and more families are finding out about the PAL and all that
it offers. Joseph says that some parents drive from as far away as Ives Dairy
Road to bring their children to Curtis Park.Johnson, however is quick to point
out that “there are other great programs out there” and he hopes that, if
nothing else, the successes of the PAL can serve a model for other programs
that want to help children.
But the biggest indicator of success for any
youth-focused program in a major metropolitan area is its impact on the overall
lives of its participants once they go home.
In short, does the PAL save more Black lives? “Yes,” says Johnson. “We’re giving these kids
an alternative to criminal activity.”
“Supervised youth are always going to be less likely to
get into trouble,” explains Johnson, “and more likely to pursue more positive
activities.”
For Joseph, the value of this still-growing program goes
deeper than skin color: “the PAL is saving young
lives.”
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