26th National Conference on Preventing Crime in the Black Community

in Events Featured by sbcops — May 4, 2011 at 11:49 am | 0 comments

On May 19, 2011, The Miami-Dade Schools Police Department (M-DSPD) participated in the 26th National Conference on Preventing Crime in the Black Community. This conference is a collaborative effort sponsored by Attorney General Pam Bondi to foster communication and action among practitioners through the sharing of innovative ideas and prevention strategies that have been successful in the black community. A major component of the program was directed toward alternatives to violence among our young people. The agenda was designed to showcase successful programs and promote a positive exchange of ideas on the subject.

M-DSPD Chief Charles J. Hurley was a presenter in one of the workshops on the topic of “Diverting and Referring in 2011: A Proven Method of Mitigating Arrests of Black Youth”. The session featured M-DSPD Juvenile Civil Citation Program. This program places youth that would otherwise be arrested into a service stream that provides them a second chance before their lives are altered with an arrest record. The program uses mental health, school intervention, substance abuse counseling, case workers, and other services to treat the source of the problem.

Later in the evening after the activities of the conference was over, students, law enforcement members, volunteers and personalities from WEDR 99 Jamz marched from the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Downtown Miami to the pavilion at Bayside where food was served and guest speakers and entertainers encouraged hundreds of students from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties public schools to make the choice to avoid violence.

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