Page 20 - 2018 Annual Report
P. 20
Initiatives Program changes youth-police dynamic
Data shows that a program KCPD instituted
Captain Ryan Mills was in charge of the
initiative, and he selected Sergeants Troy
in the summer of 2018 had a profound impact
Youth and police. Wright to interact with youth throughout the
Phillips and Michael Lenoir and Officer Nicole
on the relationship between urban-core youth
week-long program. They also had to recruit
After its success on the East Coast beginning
other officers – many of whom were relatively
in the early 2000s, the Kansas City Missouri
new and had little opportunity to interact
Police Department decided to implement the
with youth – to the program to have tough
Youth Police Initiative (YPI), developed by
former Kansas City resident Jay Paris with the
North American Family Institute. A member of conversations.
KCPD hosted three YPI sessions with 15
the Police Foundation of Kansas City funded teens in each. During the class, the kids and
the YPI and a study of its effectiveness. officers participated in a variety of structured
exercises and conversations to encourage
dialogue, build relationships and encourage
honest information sharing. Regular
outings occurred after that to continue their
relationships.
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice
surveyed the kids at the beginning and end of
their week-long session, and by the end of the
first session….the teens who said “I know at
least one police officer who I can trust” went
YPI’s goal was to bring at-risk youth up by 181 percent.
together with police officers to share personal
By the third session, the survey item of
stories, meals, and to let their guards down
“police treat most individuals fairly,” changed
long enough to have the difficult and honest
207 percent from neutral to strongly agree. The
discussions and to build relationships and
third cohort of KCPD students exhibited one
understanding for both the youth and the
of the most dramatic shift in attitudes toward
officers. KCPD’s East Patrol Division partnered
police among similar programs nationwide.
with the J.D. Wagner Unit of the Boys and Girls
Club of Kansas City on this initiative. The police officers who participated in the
Youth Police Initiative also reported change,
“KCPD was presented with the with a 67 percent increase in the item “I know
opportunity to engage with youth how to resolve conflicts between teenagers
and adults” and a 56 percent increase in “I
in a way we’ve always wanted to but know the names of many teenagers who live in
lacked the proper program,” Chief the neighborhood that I patrol.”
Police soon saw those results in action. In
Richard Smith said. “The Youth Police August, the aunt of one of our Youth Police
Initiative is a program that actually Initiative teens was seriously wounded when
she was hit by a stray bullet from a rolling gun
changes attitudes and perceptions, battle in the East Patrol Division. The teenager
turning what was perceived as was at the crime scene and immediately
recognized two of the officers there from the
an adversarial relationship into a program. He came and spoke to them, and the
trusting relationship.” whole interaction with the victim’s family went
far better than we could have hoped …because
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