Police make pals with kids

When a 10-year-old boy robs a student at gunpoint outside Houston Hall and a 14-year-old cuts a student with a knife while stealing a bike, it is comforting to know that someone is doing something about it. University Police Officers Mark Grimes and Tammie Watson are trying to solve the juvenile crime problem by getting involved with neighborhood kids. Last summer, they organized the first Penn Police Athletic League to interact with kids in West Philadelphia and to establish a friendly relationship between the police and local kids. "A lot of kids' first interactions with police officers are negative," Grimes said last week. "We wanted to give them some positive feedback -- let them know we aren't just disciplinarians." The program ran from July 6 to August 14 and involved 40 kids, ranging in ages from 8 to 10, from a local middle school. Watson said she left a description of the program with the school counselor and selected kids on a first come-first serve basis. Grimes and Watson, with the help of other officers volunteered to organize sports and other activities from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "We did everything from drug awareness to martial arts to swimming on Friday," Watson said. "We also took them to the [University] museum for story-telling on Wednesdays." Everything was free for the kids, including lunches donated by BillyBob's Restaurant, Cavanaughs Restaurant and Cosimo's Pizza, Watson added. Grimes and Watson worked the league on a strictly volunteer basis, in addition to their regular 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily police shift. "The kids and parents wanted us to have [the league] everyday, but we knew we would set ourselves up for failure if we had too much to do," Watson said. Grimes said that organizing the league altered his point of view. "It gives an officer insight," Grimes said. "You forget what it was like not to have anything to do all day long. It's that lack of supervision that causes [mischief]." Watson said she keeps in touch with some of the kids she supervised in the summer. "I live in their neighborhood," she said. "I see some of the kids or their parents periodically." Watson added that she and Grimes are planning to take the kids who participated in the program to the 76ers basketball game on December 4. "We don't want to see the kids for a few weeks in the summer and then not see them until next year," Watson said. "Maybe later on, after the program is established, we can have more activities during the year." Both Watson and Grimes said they are looking forward to next summer's league. "We have a feel for it now," Grimes said. "Next year should be a lot more relaxed." Watson said she has noticed a difference between the officers who volunteered last summer and their current relationship with some local kids. "Some of the officers that volunteered have seen the kids on campus and the old relationship has changed -- they know their names, they call them Officer Mike, or whatever," Watson said. Watson added that this relationship will become stronger the longer the program runs. "Hopefully, this will start something good between the community and our department," Watson said.

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