Youth Programs and Contemporary Issues in Policing

William L. MiznerChief of Police

Norfolk, Nebraska

Introduction

• Maintaining Awareness

• Youth Programs

– Need

– Types

• Contemporary Issues in Law

Enforcement

Understanding Current Problems

• Must prioritize use of limited resources

• Must be responsive to issues of concern in community

• Must help educate the community on issues

Keeping Current

• Publications– Association Publications

• Police Chief magazine• Sheriff magazine

– Trade Journals• FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin• Law and Order • Law Enforcement News• Law Enforcement Technology

• Internet Sources– IACP Net– Department of Justice– Regional Community Policing Training

Institute

Keeping Current

Assessing the Future

• Plan ahead– Tactical Planning

• Immediate or short-term

– Strategic Planning• Long-range

• Sources – Police Futurists International

– World Future Society

– Crime and Criminal Justice in the 21st Century

Reviewing Programs

• Determine the goals• Determine necessary resources

– Manpower– Support– Examine recurring costs

• Evaluate reviews and studies• Assess if right for your agency and

community

Need for Youth Programs

• Significant amount of crime is committed by youth

• 1997 Uniform Crime Report juvenile stats– Third straight decrease in juvenile crime

– First decrease in seven years in drug arrests

– Violent crime arrests still 49% above 1988 rate

– Total crime arrests still 35% above 1988 rate

– Drug arrests still 125% above 1988 rate

• Most gang members are juveniles

• There is a chance behavior can be changed before the individual reaches adulthood

Need for Youth Programs

Types of Youth Programs

• D.A.R.E.– Possibly the most popular youth program

• 25,000 trained officers in 44 countries• Estimated 80% of U.S. classrooms

– $700 - 750 million spent annually– Studies vary on program’s effectiveness

• 1997 University of Maryland report to Congress identified D.A.R.E. as one of the programs which don’t work

• School Resource Officer Program– Officer is an educator, counselor and law

enforcer– Major goal is to build rapport between law

enforcement and youth

Types of Youth Programs

• G.R.E.A.T.– 2200 officers from more than 900 agencies– 9-week middle school curriculum– 4-week fifth or sixth grade curriculum– Summer project focusing on recreational

activities, outings and community service projects

– Initial reviews indicate positive impact

Types of Youth Programs

• Law Enforcement Explorers Post– Joint effort between agency and Boy

Scouts

• Police Athletic League– Serves 1.5 million boys and girls in 1600

locations– Emphasizes sports and activities as a

crime prevention effort

Types of Youth Programs

• Mentoring Programs– Best-known mentoring organization is Big

Brothers / Big Sisters of America• National operating standards provide a level of

uniformity in recruitment, screening, training, matching, and supervision of adult volunteers and youth

• The mentor and youth meet for about four hours, two to four times a month, for at least a year

Types of Youth Programs

– 1995 18-month study of eight local BB/BS programs found mentored youth were:

• 46% less-likely to initiate drug use• 27% less-likely to initiate alcohol use• Almost 1/3 less-likely to hit someone• Skipped half as many school days• Showed modest gains in grade point averages• Had improved relationships w/ parents & peers

Types of Youth Programs

Ten Model Programs

• Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence

University of Colorado, Boulder Institute of Behavioral Sciences

Campus Box 442 Boulder, CO 80309-0442

www.colorado.edu/cspv

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America

• Targets youth from single parent homes

• Volunteers interact regularly with youth in a one-to-one relationship

• $1000 per year average cost of making and supporting a relationship

Bullying Prevention Program

• Targets elementary, middle and junior high students

• Program outcomes– Substantial reduction of bullying – Significant reduction in antisocial behavior– Significant improvement in class “social

climate– More positive attitude toward school

Midwestern Prevention Project

• Comprehensive, community-based, multi-faceted program for adolescent drug abuse prevention

• Targets early adolescent through late adolescent youth

• Outcomes– Up to 40% reduction in daily smoking– Similar reductions in marijuana use

– Smaller reductions in alcohol use through 12th grade

– Increased parent/child communication about drug use

• $175,000 minimal cost over a 3-year period

Midwestern Prevention Project

Quantum Opportunities Program

• Serves disadvantaged adolescents by providing education, service, and development activities, as well as financial incentives, over a 4-year period from 9th to 12th grade

• Outcomes– 21% more likely to graduate from high school– 26% more likely to receive honor or award

– 26% more likely to attend post-secondary schools

– 14% less likely to become teen parents

• $2,650 per participant per year

Quantum Opportunities Program

Life Skills Training

• 3-year intervention designed to prevent or reduce gateway drug use

• Outcomes– 50% to 70% reduction in tobacco, alcohol

and marijuana use– 25% reduction in pack-a-day smoking– Decreased use of inhalants and narcotics

• $7 per student per year

Multisystemic Therapy

• Intensive family- and community-based treatment that addresses the multiple determinants of serious antisocial behavior in juvenile offenders

• Targets chronic, violent or substance-abusing offenders ages 12 to 17 at high risk of out-of-house placement, and the offenders’ families

• Outcomes– 25-70% reduction in long-term rates of re-arrest– 47%-64% reduction in out-of-home placements– Extensive improvements in family functioning– Decreased mental health problems for serious

offenders

• $4500 per youth

Multisystemic Therapy

Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses

• Intensive and comprehensive home visits by nurses during a woman’s pregnancy and the first 2 years after the birth of the first child

• Targets low-income, at-risk pregnant women bearing their first child

• Outcomes– 79% fewer reports of child abuse or neglect– 31% fewer subsequent births

– 30 months less receipt of Aid to Families of Dependent Children

– 44% fewer maternal alcohol or drug problems– 69% fewer maternal arrests– 56% fewer arrests of the children– 60% fewer reports of children running away– 56% fewer days of alcohol use by children

• $2800 per family per year

Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care

• Cost-effective alternative to group or residential treatment, incarceration, and hospitalization for adolescents with chronic antisocial behavior, emotional disturbance, and delinquency

• Outcomes– 60% fewer days incarcerated – Significantly fewer subsequent arrests

– Ran away from programs 3 times less often

– Significantly less hard drug use– Quicker community placement from more

restrictive settings (hospitals, detention)

• $2691 average cost per youth per month; average length of stay is 7 months

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care

Functional Family Therapy

• Outcome-driven prevention/intervention program for youth demonstrating the entire range of maladaptive, acting out behaviors and related syndromes.

• Target youth age 11-18

• Outcomes– Effectively treating adolescents with a

variety of disorders

– Reduces access and penetration of other social services by these adolescents

– Reduces further incidents of the problem– Reduces penetration of the adult criminal

system by the adolescents– Prevents younger children in family from

penetrating the system of care

• $1350 to $3750 for 12 home visits

Functional Family Therapy

PATHS Promoting Alternative

• Comprehensive program promoting emotional and social competencies and reducing aggression and behavior problems

• Targets elementary school children• Outcomes

– Improved self-control

– Increased ability to tolerate frustration

– Use of more effective conflict-resolution plans

– Decreased conduct problems

• $15 per student per year for a 3-year period

PATHS Promoting Alternative

Promising Programs

• Fast Track– Comprehensive and long-term prevention

program that aims to prevent chronic and severe conduct problems for high-risk kids.

– Strives to increase communication between child, home and school, enhance child’s social, cognitive and problem-solving skills, improve peer relationships, and ultimately decrease disruptive behavior in the home and at school

• Perry Preschool Program– Provides high-quality childhood education to

disadvantaged children to improve their later school and life performances

• Parent Child Development Center– Designed to foster relationships between

parents and children– Provides multi-dimensional help to mothers

become more effective in child-rearing

Promising Programs

• Syracuse Family Development Research Program– Bolsters child and family functioning and

affective, interpersonal relationships through home visitations, parent training and individualized daycare.

• YALE Child Welfare Project– Offers team-based, personalized family

support to help disadvantaged parents

Promising Programs

• Intensive Protective Supervision Project – Removes juvenile offenders from criminal

justice institutions and provides them with more proactive and extensive community supervision

• Preventive Treatment Program– Designed to prevent antisocial behavior of boys

who display early, problem behavior by providing training to parents and child to decrease delinquency and substance abuse

Promising Programs

• Project PATHE– Comprehensive program implemented in

secondary schools that reduces school disorder and improves the school environment.

• School Transitional Environmental Program– Seeks to reduce complexity of school

environments, increase peer and teacher support, and decrease student vulnerability to academic and emotional difficulties

Promising Programs

Critical Issues in Law Enforcement

• Year 2000 Preparation– Internal

• Computers• Contingencies• Personnel

– External• Relationships• Disruptions?• Terrorism?

• Ethics in Law Enforcement• Growing Immigrant Populations• Drugs

– War on drugs– Legalization issue

• Police/Citizen Partnerships– Community policing– Citizen advisory boards

Critical Issues in Law Enforcement