Boynton cops, kids collaborate in simulated-pressure setting
Agency seeks to build trust through mentoring program.
WEST PALM BEACH — Using their brains, fingers and flashlights, a team of three middle school students and three police officers — all from Boynton Beach — spent an hour Friday trying to solve puzzles and crack codes that would ultimately help them figure out how to escape a room before a bomb went off.
The 60 minutes came and went. And the group even was given more time just for fun.
But the bomb exploded at least four times, and the six didn’t make it out until an employee at the West Palm Beach-based Escape Room helped.
The officers said the day was worth celebrating anyway.
“I think they got obviously a good connection with us in law enforcement, seeing us in a different position than what we normally do as police officers,” said training officer Barry Ward. “This is something you’d do with you dad and your mom. It was wonderful.”
The kids were frustrated when a code didn’t unlock a chest or if a password didn’t unlock a computer, and they saw the officers feel the same way.
“Why is she giving us a clue? We didn’t ask for one,” officer Ramiro Alegria said after an employee spoke through a two-way radio.
“Because we’re hitting a dead end,” responded Sgt. Kenneth Roper, an enthusiastic participant.
When the employee later asked whether a certain item was set up correctly, Roper responded, “Yes. We’ve had that for quite some time.”
But words of encouragement flew back and forth.
“You’re all right man. Try again,” Alegria told the boys Training officer, Boynton Beach Police
after the bomb continued to go off.
The field trip ended the Boys and Blue program that 14 Boynton officers and 14 Congress Middle School boys participated in. Each officer was partnered with a student to mentor. The pairs met regularly, and could reach one another at any time. The idea for Boys and Blue is to bridge whatever division there might be between police and children. Shannon Grice, Congress Middle School’s eighth-grade assistant principal, thought of it and plans to continue it next year, hopefully to grow to other schools.
“It’s really done more than I even thought it would,” Grice said of the program’s success. “The big thing is just the officers being there and being consistent. It’s huge.”
Jamaal Johnson, 12, said he’s changed his behavior
in school and is doing better on his homework since spending time with officer Kyndra Strong. Strong said she’s shown Jamaal her personal side to make him feel comfortable around her. For example, she was having a problem with her neighb o r ’s d o g , a n d c h o s e t o write a letter to try to solve the issue. She showed it to Jamaal before handing it to her neighbor.
And when tragedy hit one of the boys and his family, the police department came in to help. Cody Finley, 15, lost his home in a fire. Cody’s mom called his mentor, Alegria, and now the department is helping bring normalcy back to the family.
“I’ve been more of a comfort,” Alegria said. “He hasn’t been fortunate to have the things many kids have so I try to bring him up when he’s down.”
Grice wanted to end the Boys and Blue program with a team-building event and thought an esc ape room would be fitting. The police depar tment paid for the trip and pizza afterward. Police Chief Jeffrey Katz visited the group during lunch and tossed a football around with the boys and officers.
Others from the group attended the field trip as well, and some even made it out of their rooms with success. For some boys, Friday was their first school trip.
As for the sextet, despite their loss they were still congratulated for their effort.
“You guys ac tually did really well,” said Ali Betts, the employee who first spoke to the group through the radio. “You made attempts at solving things before you actually asked for a clue.”
Betts told the group the room they were in is considered to be at a medium level of difficulty, and groups that try to escape it are successful 50 percent of the time.
Cody just wanted to know which room was the scariest.
“Can we come back?” he said.