Police Union partners for own youth league

Interesting story in tomorrow's paper. A police/youth partnership looks like it's finally here, but from an unlikely source: The police union.

Apparently, union leadership has partnered with a local nonprofit to meet with youths from the Waterman Gardens and Westside project for sports and other activities. Union President Rich Lawhead said he will have at least 10 volunteer officers as part of this PAL-like program.

That's an astonishing number considering Lawhead said last year he wasn't sure if any cops would volunteer for the department's Police Activities League.

Meanwhile, the PAL that the council gave the department $75,000 for in Feb. 2007 is still in development.

Below is an early version of the story :

SAN BERNARDINO — When top police union officials came to a Westside community center for the first time last Christmas with gifts for impoverished kids, a thought struck Terrance Stone.
“What is really important, and has been missing, is strengthened relationships between our kids and the police,” said Stone, a youth advocate and co-founder of Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy. “Then at this event, (Police union President) Rich Lawhead said he wanted to help, and I said okay, let’s figure something out.”
A newly forged three-way partnership between the Police Officer’s Association, Stone’s nonprofit youth program and downtown’s American Sports University is set to draw teens from two of the city’s toughest neighborhoods together for weekend sports.
The program, starting Feb. 9 and slated for the second and fourth Saturday of each month, will give teens T-shirts, lunch, and a few hours in a university gym.
More crucial, Stone said, may be positive interaction with police officers, something that may be foreign to kids in county project housing.
“Officers working with these kids as mentors will make a huge difference,” Stone said.
Each Saturday, about two hours of sports and training in the gym will conclude with lunch and a motivational speaker, Stone said. Saturday’s debut speaker will be 6th Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson.
The partnership also may be a positive step for police/community relations, Lawhead said, particularly in the Westside Projects, where distrust of police has run high. Also enrolled are teens from Waterman Gardens, another subsidized housing tract.
“We are doing this on neutral, safe turf where hopefully we can come together and build relationships,” Lawhead said.
The program will debut before the formation of a Police Activities League, which the council gave Police Chief Michael Billdt $75,000 to launch at the Delmann Heights Community Center in February 2007.
Numerous setbacks and a new location have delayed the program’s launch, but department brass say they’re pleased with the union’s move.
“We welcome any effort to get more involved in the community,” said Lt. Scott Paterson. “This will compliment the PAL.”
Lawhead said he expects at least 10 officers to volunteer Saturday to work out and interact with the teens.
“I totally support the PAL,” said Lawhead, who in the past had questioned it’s ability to draw volunteers. “I just wanted to get something started now, and Terrance and I were able to just hammer this out.”
robert.rogers@sbsun.com (909) 386-3855.