PAL is the only youth organization whose primary function is
Juvenile Crime Prevention. PAL attempts to create juvenile decency through
a myriad of positive endeavors, athletics and non-athletics, in communities like
yours across the United States. During closing remarks at the 1996 IACP Summit
on Youth Violence it was stated that "PAL is a part of the solution."
How does that work for you? That is what we are trying to address.
Just what is PAL? PAL is simply "Cops and Kids" in an environment that is
conducive to creating and maintaining relationships that will keep our youth out
of the Juvenile Justice System. That it will prepare them to be better, more
productive, members of their community. That it will establish a bond that
will endure. PAL is also a great community relations, it is basic community
policing, it is positive public relations for you and your department, but most
important, PAL is juvenile crime prevention. Believe it or not, PAL can make
for better, more productive officers. Too often Police Officers only see the
negative side of the kids and the community, making them cynical and jaded towards
everything and everyone. Being involved in PAL, or Little League, or the Boys
Club, or the YMCA helps them to balance all the negatives and reduce the stress
level. When that happens, and it will, they become better officers and people.
PAL can be what you need it to be. It can ba Armada, MI with
one Police Officer that works steady midnight's and has an archery program.
Or it can be New York City, whose budget and staff are probably larger than most
Police Departments. Or all that lies between. You organize a PAL to
meet your needs. Like Captain Sweeney in New York in 1914 it is often to address
a specific problem. Captain John Sweeney had a problem with kids breaking
windows. His solution was to get them to play baseball. He offered a
bat and a ball in exchange for a rock, and he traded a court appearance for a baseball
game. This was the beginning of PAL, as we know it today. Or you may
simply have an interest in an activity.
The diversity and flexibilty of PAL is it's greatest strength.
It can be like Baltimore when you go from zero to one-hundred immediately, or like
Niagara Falls that has been a thirty-year evolution.
