UP CLOSE
Let’s Bring Youth Police
Initiative (YPI) to New Jersey
By Jonathan Golden, Ph.D.
I
n a seminal article on community
policing in 1979 Herman Goldstein
argued that law enforcement needed
to expand its mission to become more
proactive in problem-solving, as opposed
to reactive, simply responding to calls for
service. Policing, he lamented, had become
blind to the problems it was meant to solve
by disregarding the root sources of social
disorder (Goldstein Weisburd et al. 2008).
Nearly two decades later, James Forman
(2004) suggested that we “build on existing
community policing models to develop an
approach that would, for the first time in
modern policing, fundamentally alter the
relationship between police and the young.”
This is precisely what the North American
Family Institute (NAFI) had in mind when
it launched a program called the Youth
Police Initiative (YPI). Designed to help atrisk youth avoid lapsing into lives of gangs,
guns, and violence, YPI has two primary
goals: 1. to build rapport between law
officers and the communities they police;
and 2. to give young men and women the
tools needed to resolve conflicts peacefully
and avoid getting involved in the justice
system in the first place. Working toward
these goals, YPI teaches both the police
officers and the youth to engage in respectful
communication and interactions with one
another. They are taught to understand each
other’s roles and situations. All participants
learn to recognize and avoid stereotypes
and biases. YPI was first launched in Baltimore in 2003,
then went to White Plains and Yonkers,
New York, followed by Providence and
Hartford, before moving west to Spokane.
The program began as part of training
for recruits at police academies but soon
shifted to a community-based model. Using
this approach YPI can tailor each program
to meet the particular needs of individual
neighborhoods and districts served. This
strategy implement is by partnering with
local organizations that already have
traction in the community. For example,
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in Spokane the police work with schoolbased organizations and will soon launch a
program that offers students who get into
trouble the opportunity to complete the
YPI program as an alternative to removal
from school. YPI programs also partner
with local faith-based organizations. Local
community leaders select the young men
and women that participate in YPI. How Does it Work?
YPI programs typically consist of four
full-day sessions that are run as interactive
forums engaging police and youth
participation. According to Spokane Police
Chief Frank Straub, who has overseen
the implementation of YPI in several
cities, “this creates a safe space for young
people and officers to wrestle with difficult
subjects.” It offers both men and women
– six young women graduated from the
Albany Police Department’s YPI Program
in February of 2015 – a chance to engage
in dialogue with the very officers who
patrol their neighborhoods. They share
their personal stories and engage in honest,
though often difficult, conversations.
Facilitated discussions offer police officers
an opportunity to speak candidly with
the youth, who in turn are more inclined
to express their own concerns directly to
members of their local police departments.
We have all seen national polls that
reflect a distrust and fear of the police in
many communities, particularly among
minorities, but it is quite different when
the police hear testimonials directly from
the young men and women themselves.
This presents a “teachable moment,” an
opportunity for police officers to learn
what is driving certain behaviors and to
suggest ways they could react differently
when approached by police. When youth
participants reveal why they sometimes
flee from police, officers explain how
this behavior makes police suspicious
and can lead to needless escalation.
The Department of Justice’s Director of
Community Relations Service, Grande
Lum, fears that some young men operate
under the false assumption that if they are
wrongfully stopped they have the right to
resist. How can they be taught otherwise?
YPI has offered one solution by simulating
‘car stop’ scenarios that teach cooperative
strategies. Through these and similar ‘role
play’ exercises, participating police and
youth are able to better understand the
impact of their personal decisions and gain
an appreciation for open communication. Together, participants discuss a range of
issues related to race, stereotypes, and
privilege. Through these conversations
they are able to grow greater empathy,
a core principle of conflict resolution.
Police officers and youth develop an
understanding of each other’s beliefs,
values, and experiences, and thus break
down the barriers between the two groups. Participants also take part in a variety of
team-building exercises, which has the
dual effect of imparting useful skills while
encouraging better communication and
respect. At the conclusion of the program
certificates of achievement are awarded
to each youth participant, and in the ageold tradition of making peace by breaking
bread, all sit down to share a meal.
Implementing YPI has not always been
easy. Introducing the program into Boston’s
Franklin Field Public Housing Development, a neighborhood plagued by violence
and a high murder rate, came with considerable challenges. Yet to date, over 25 communities have successfully employed YPI.
How Do We
Measure Success? With new, innovative approaches, the
indicators used to assess outcomes must
change accordingly. Success in communityoriented policing is measured not by the
number of arrests made, but by arrests
not made. In communities that have
implemented YPI programs, reduced
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juvenile crime rates are paired with greater
educational achievement. How do we
measure increased understanding? NAFI
has reported the following results based on
surveys of YPI participants:
• 50% increase in police officers’
understanding of adolescent
development.
• 65% increase in police officer
knowledge of urban socialization
issues.
• 50% improvement in the use of
effective communication strategies
involving de-escalation, crisis intervention and problem-solving skills.
Programs that can improve relationships
between our youth and the police officers
are badly needed, programs that place an
equal emphasis on helping the community
to understand the police and for the
police to learn about their communities,
in all their diversity. Ultimately, the aim
of community-oriented policing is to
transform these relationships by creating
an environment where there is greater
communication, collaboration, and shared
problem-solving. This leads to greater
trust of and commitment to one another.
Programs like this empower both the
police and the community, cultivating an
environment where there can be mutual
respect. As Skolnick and Bayley (1988) put
it, the community acts as “co-producer” of
public safety. Greene, Jack R. 2000. Community Policing
in America: Changing the Nature, Structure,
and Function of the Police. Volume 3: Policies,
Processes, and Decisions of the Criminal Justice
System: NCJ
The only question, really, is why there are
not more programs like this. In an effort to
expand its reach while containing costs, YPI
has recently developed a Train-the-Trainer
program. Why not train trainers in police
departments around the country? “There is
a hunger for this type of thing,” urges Lum.
Programs like YPI can benefit everyone,
giving at-risk youth a better chance, providing a counter-narrative to negative perceptions of police, and leading to less crime
and more education. Let’s bring the Youth
Police Initiative to New Jersey.
Somerville, Paul. 2008. “Understanding
Community Policing.” Policing: An International
Journal of Police Strategies & Management
32(2):261–77. Forman, James, Jr. 2004. “Community
Policing and Youth as Assets.” Criminal Law &
Criminology 95(1):1–48. Goldstein, Herman. 1979. “Improving Policing:
A Problem-Oriented Approach.” Crime and
Delinquency 25:236–58.
Skolnick, Jerome K., and David H. Bayley. 1988.
“Theme and Variation in Community Policing.”
In Crime and Justice: A Review of Research,
edited by M. Tonry and N. Morris. Chicago, Ill.:
University of Chicago Press.
Weisburd, David, Cody W. Telep, Joshua C.
Hinkle, and John E. Eck. 2008. The Effects
of Problem-Oriented Policing on Crime and
Disorder. In Campbell Systematic Reviews
Jonathan Golden (Ph.D.,
UPenn) is Acting Director
of the Center on Religion,
Culture and Conflict at Drew
University, and Convener
of the Caspersen School’s
graduate certificate in Conflict Resolution
and Leadership. To learn about this
program visit drew.edu/grad and attend
our panel discussion on May 27 drew.edu/
communitypolicing.
Caspersen School of Graduate Studies
Graduate certificate in
Conflict
Resolution &
Leadership
Law enforcement tuition discount.
Apply now for fall 2015.
drew.edu/CRL
Drew University
Madison, NJ 07940
973.408.3110
N JBLUENOW | MAY 2015
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