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In 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 at-risk 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,

in Spokane the police work with school-based 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 age-old 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 Develop-ment, a neighborhood plagued by violence and a high murder rate, came with consid-erable challenges. Yet to date, over 25 com-munities have successfully employed YPI.

How Do We Measure Success? With new, innovative approaches, the indicators used to assess outcomes must change accordingly. Success in community-oriented policing is measured not by the number of arrests made, but by arrests not made. In communities that have implemented YPI programs, reduced

Let’s Bring Youth Police Initiative (YPI) to New Jersey

By Jonathan Golden, Ph.D.

37NJBLUENOW | MAY 2015

Graduate certificate in

Conflict Resolution & Leadership

Caspersen School of Graduate Studies

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Drew University Madison, NJ 07940 973.408.3110

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:

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. 

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, pro-viding a counter-narrative to negative per-ceptions of police, and leading to less crime and more education. Let’s bring the Youth Police Initiative to New Jersey.

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.

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: NCJSkolnick, 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.Somerville, Paul. 2008. “Understanding Community Policing.” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management 32(2):261–77. 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.

• 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 inter-vention and problem-solving skills.