Several days ago, I was walking through the airport in Belize City, Belize when I stumbled upon a group of Boy Scouts. All mid to late teens, they sat dressed in their uniforms, patches sewn on to perfection and other awards and items hanging precisely in place. They sat chatting with each other relatively quietly in the din of the small, busy airport. I wondered where they were coming from, where they were going and what they had been up to. They spoke in unaccented English; I figured they were American. Several Scout Leaders sat around the edges of the group. Just as meticulously uniformed as the boys, their eyes showed a touch of weariness while at the same time reflected the same excited gleam. As I found a bench to wait for my plane, I silently thanked this group of men for realizing the importance of mentorship and being willing to step up in this busy world and make a difference in the lives of the men of tomorrow.
Research continues to show the positive impact of programs pairing adult role models with children. The relationships break down barriers, encourage conversation, build community and have multitudes of benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. Presently, we are at a time in history where there is an unprecedented divide between the community and law enforcement. This divide extends to the children because what they know about the police, the fear and hatred comes from their parents and the media. Officers are no longer looked at as those who protect and serve. Children are taught not to trust them, to lie and evade and to dismiss them as a positive resource even if they need help. In a Tedx Talks, Baltimore (MA) Police Officer, Lt. Colonel Melvin Russell, a seasoned veteran of one of the most violent areas of eastern Baltimore, spoke of the importance of bridging the gap between police and community. He stated programs need to be developed by sitting down together and listening. By following this model, his agency was able to drop their crime rate to a 30-year low. In another Tedx Talks, Seattle (WA) Police Detective Kim Bogucki also spoke about the divide between police and the children of the communities they serve. She tells about her experience trying to find solutions to the hatred on both sides of the “us vs. them” labeling conundrum at the heart of the anger, fear and violence. She states, “Police can be a positive part of community.” She goes on to share how several collaborations between police and children have grown hugely successful in making a difference in perception, attitude and perception on both sides of the divide.
The Donut Dialogues
Bogucki mentions how 15 years ago she found herself interacting with a part of the community that she served of which she had little knowledge-homeless juveniles. She realized she did not understand where these kids were coming from, both literally and figuratively. She recognized she viewed them through a lens of misunderstanding and bias. She decided that the only way to overcome this was through difficult dialogue which included honest, raw and real sharing from both sides. A group of officers sat down with these children and they talked. The officers shared their perceptions and the kids did as well. The officers learned that “dirty and smelly” was a purposeful defense mechanism against predators. The kids learned the reasoning and necessity behind enforcing certain laws and, most important, that officers are human as well. The youth affectionately dubbed these conversations The Donut Dialogues and they became the catalyst for change and innovative programs not only in Seattle, but around the nation.
West Side Story Project
After the success of The Donut Dialogues, Bogucki states she was approached by the wife of the chief of police. The 50th anniversary of West Side Story was approaching and she wanted to use this as a way to start more conversations and build more relationships between the police and youth. Bogucki and her partner agreed and the West Side Story Project (WSSP) was born. In a collaboration between Seattle PD, Broadway Theatre and area youth, summits were arranged where over 300 youth participated in gang prevention workshops, dramatic role reversals with police, and theatre games to help reduce cultural conflict. Vignettes from the play were the perfect platform for difficult dialogue, including Jet Song (gangs), Gee Officer Krupke! (juvenile justice system) and America (conflict and immigration). Youth involved in WSSP also created original works based on themes from this musical, as well as several others. Again, this project did not stay within the confines of Seattle. Officers, theatre representatives, and two involved youth went to Chicago to present the project to the Police Executive Research Forum. WSSP has now been successfully replicated in West Plains (NY) and Los Angeles. A toolkit is available for law enforcement agencies free of charge through the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).
The If Project
Bogucki didn’t stop with the success of the projects she had been involved in. She now had a fire for bridging the divide with community, honest, real and raw dialogue and being part of making a difference in the lives of youth. Once again, she was approached and asked to help with Girl Scouts Beyond Bars, a scouting program serving girls who have incarcerated mothers. Bogucki was excited to interact with the girls but wanted permission from the mothers. She was wary as she entered the Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW). After all, she was a cop and they were convicts. What she discovered behind the walls shocked her and altered, once again, her “us vs. them” lens. The women who sat before her crushed her stereotypes. These women looked just like her neighbors, her friends, herself. She began to have questions about them. Not the typical questions these women hear, such as, “What did you do?” or “How much time are you serving?” She asked the question, “If there was something someone could have said or done that would have changed the path that led you here, what would it have been?” With this question, her work with children expanded into the IF Project, a collaboration between cops and convicts. Together they host youth programs, train adults who work with youth, as well as, train and mentor incarcerated men and women throughout the country.
Both Russell and Bogucki spoke passionately about law enforcement, a job they each love deeply. They both also expressed sadness over the chasm between officers and their communities. Thankfully, these two veteran officers and thousands like them are willing to stop business as usual, sit down with community members, including youth and communicate. Through these partnerships, programs that strengthen the relationship between cops and community, reduce conflict, incarceration and recidivism and mentor youth have emerged. Bogucki urges her audience to go out and be a positive adult role model. Through this, we might just be able to bring the canyon walls between law enforcement and youth just a bit closer in the next generation.
