The Police Activities League (PAL), a local nonprofit that builds relationships between law enforcement officers and youth, has recently benefited from a deepening of its longstanding working relationship with the S.B. Police Department, enabling a greater impact on these teens and their families.
Under Chief Kelly Gordon’s leadership, SBPD created an 11-member PAL Pack, a cadre of officers that oversees the department’s participation in various PAL activities — programs in which more than 50 officers and other SBPD employees participate. Gordon has assumed a direct role, meeting quarterly with PAL’s youth leadership group, participating in myriad PAL events, and informally engaging with youth at the PAL Center.
Motivating this outreach is Chief Gordon’s belief in the importance of providing vulnerable youth with the opportunity to get to know officers out of the context of a call for service and the importance of mentoring them. “There is something about that authentic moment, where you are just sharing a hot dog with these kids" or playing tug-of-war, she said. "The little things go a really long way.”