Cops, teens
Every effort helps when it comes to forging better public-police relations.
This year’s trauma of police officer killings, video of black men being killed by officers and civil unrest in some cities has sparked a national call for an examination of policing in America, as well as renewed dialogue between police officers and residents of the communities they patrol.
One program in particular, begun in Houston, can be counted among police-community relations efforts to move the dialogue forward. It deserves community support.
Unlike other initiatives that are focused on youth, the Teen and Police Service Academy, or TAPS, is an 11-week course in which police officers teach juvenile offenders and students from alternative high schools. Among its goals is to improve interactions between police and at-risk teenagers. It’s the kind of program needed as the nation’s methods of policing undergo intense scrutiny and public-police relations are frayed.
As the Chronicle’s Brooke A. Lewis recently reported (“Program breaks barriers one class at a time,” Page A3, Aug. 7), TAPS was founded in 2012 by criminologist and University of Houston-Clear Lake professor Everette Penn in response to a 2010 case in which police officers were captured on video beating and kicking a 15-year-old African-American burglary suspect.
A condensed five-week summer version of the course was recently held at a juvenile facility in Katy, shortly after the controversial fatal police shootings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota, and then the killing of five police officers in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge, La.
The program began after Houston police obtained a federal grant, and then-Police Chief Charles McClelland wanted to create a program in which officers could interact with youths. Penn and then Assistant Police Chief Brian Lumpkin came up with TAPS, Lewis reported. During the 11-week course, teens and police discuss such topics as conflict resolution and gang membership, bullying and dating/sexting abuse and much more. Officers get the opportunity to answer questions, such as how to respond to officers and other authority figures and how to respond to officers during a traffic stop.
“It is awe-inspiring to see at-risk teens and police working together to understand why crime occurs and most importantly, what to do about it,” Penn states on the TAPS website.
The Houston program has been implemented in other cities, including Galveston and El Paso. We hope it spreads throughout the greater Houston area and the state, as the issue of police-community relations continues to face some tough questions. Programs like TAPS can be part of the answer.