May 28, 2021

How police can join, rather than just occupy, communities

 Sam Smith - As I read about police abuse across the country I recalled how things were a little different in my hometown of DC a few decades ago. For example, as president of a public school parents' association, I once got a call from the principal who told me she had found some kids with marijuana and had called the police to send an officer to scare the students and then leave the rest up to her. This was before the dreadful war on drugs and reflected the different status of police in her community. 

Around that same time, our sons belonged to a police boys & girls club which had baseball teams with cops as coaches and umpires. It was a comfortable part of the local culture. As the police department describes it today:

In 2003, the MPBGC merged with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington in an effort to provide even more programs serving even more area youth. This merger preserves the facilities and services of the MPBGC, a local organization that has provided DC children with strong police mentors and athletic and educational programs for more than 70 years. MPDC officers continue to provide staff services and support in the seven MPBGC Clubhouses, but these services are strengthened through the resources, diversity and stability of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. As a result of this merger, more than 35,000 DC-area youth are being served annually.

 Today the DC police is involved in other community efforts such as


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