NYPD Unveils 'Kids First' Outreach Effort

New York City NY

24 June, 2021

3:18 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — A refreshed outreach initiative aims to build trust between New York City's youth and NYPD. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced the launch of "NYPD Kids First," a raft of programs focused on school safety, mentoring and community engagement. The program was actually poised to launch right before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. "We were about to make it a major, major initiative, and COVID hit weeks later," de Blasio said. "We now get to come back and do this the right way as the city recovers. And this is the future, policing with a lens of focusing on young people, proactive, preemptive, positive, building deep connections to communities, taking neighborhood policing to the next level." NYPD Kids First is a program aimed at making sure our youngest New Yorkers are always safe and supported with:• School safety programs• Mentoring and career exploration• Community events like National Night Out• Expanded Youth Coordination Officers pic.twitter.com/73RJKQUHTB— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) June 24, 2021 The refreshed program comes amid low levels of community trust of police and a citywide surge in violent crime. Commissioner Dermot Shea called the last year, which was punctuated by protests over police brutality, "polarizing." He acknowledged the NYPD in the past knew better how to attack crimes like robbery than to engage with youth. "We were a little spread out on services with youth," he said. "So, now since last year with the addition of the Youth Coordination officers and providing additional training to them, we're kind of looking at it in the same venue. What do we do with a child that lives in a particular area that we've run into that needs services, or maybe on the wrong track? And are those police officers aware of every potential avenue that's available to them? The answer was no from a police department perspective. The answer today is a firm yes."