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Police share skills, themselves with
youth
Better relationships grow out of
academy
For some teenagers, seeing a police officer stirs apprehension or
even distrust.
But yesterday more than a dozen Louisville teens walked away with
a new view of the men and women behind the badge.
"They're just like
regular people," said 17-year-old Charles Boyd, one of the
participants in the Louisville Metro Police Department's Youth
Citizen Police Academy.
The teens, mainly from the Portland area, were the third and
final class of the youth academy for the year. The two-week classes,
offered only in the summer, aim to foster trust between youth and
the police.
The program, in its second year, tries to reach out to diverse
youths in the Louisville area, said Sgt. Robert Diven, who oversees
the academy.
"We get to build relationships with some of these children who've
never had positive interactions with the police until this point,"
Diven said. "They begin to trust us, to see us as human beings who
want to help."
The excited shouts and laughter of the youngsters echoed
throughout Jefferson Memorial Forest as the class, on its third day,
braved the sweltering heat to participate in "survivor style"
challenges designed to develop teamwork.
Working together, and with the use of their imaginations, the
teens pretended to secure nuclear waste in a bucket. In another
activity, they used colorful construction paper as "rafts" to cross
a shark-infested ocean.
Facing a third obstacle, they balanced on a shaky wire a couple
of feet off the ground and connecting three trees. With ropes and
the help of each other, they got across.
Telena Valdez, 17, landed back on the ground with an excited
laugh and a sigh of relief.
"I thought I was gonna fall for a second -- it was real shaky --
but you gotta trust your friends," Telena said. "They got your
back."
As part of the academy, the teens participate in a different
activity every day that helps them build certain skills and exposes
them to the different facets of police work. The class will meet 35
officers from various units -- including homicide, K-9 and SWAT --
with the idea that they will grow to see police officers as
trustworthy human beings.
By the time they complete the academy, the youth also will be
certified in CPR and first aid, said Officer Minerva Virola, the
academy's coordinator.
"A lot of things happen to these kids at school," Virola said.
"They can come here afterwards and have someone to confide in."
This year's three classes were paid for by the Police
Athletic/Activities League, a crime-prevention program that also
strives to build positive relationships between police, youth and
the community.
For Ciara Wilcox, 14, the class has had a positive impact.
"I used to have a lot of anger problems, and I've been finding
that by talking to people and working together I can work off some
of that anger and have fun too," she said. "You get to really see
what the officers are like and what they go through. They're just
trying to get us to stay out of trouble."
Reporter Darhiana M. Mateo can be reached at (502) 582-4011 ext.
4640.
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