The Police Athletic League became the National Association
of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, Inc. back around 1944. http://www.nationalpal.org/ nationally
it has been in existence some 73 years and doing amazing work. It has a very amazing
alumni for our young boys and girls to look up to so check out their website.
Let’s go back to the beginning of the Police Athletic League
also known as P.A.L. It didn’t start off as a national organization reaching
across the United States from day one. It was a dream, an inspiration of one
person who was able to see it and feel it in his heart therefore bringing it to
reality back in 1914 in the city of New York. That’s right the NYPD has been
involved with P.A.L for more than a century thanks to its founder Police
Commissioner Arthur Woods. It wasn’t called P.A.L then, Commissioner Woods
began what was known as Play Streets while Police Captain John Sweeney found
the Junior Police Clubs of New York City’s Lower East Side.
Remember back in the early 1900’s times were different. Our
police officers walked a beat they didn’t drive around in cars, they were out
there and met the community face to face on a daily basis. Less people and
although crime was still there it was a better way of policing because they got
to know the people in the neighborhoods first hand. The children we no
different then, there were those who were excited to see the police officer
they had gotten to know walk down the street, and then there were those who ran
knowing they were up to mischief and didn’t want him to see what they were up
to. Simpler times as I have written about before but still they needed more
than just playing in the streets and possibly getting themselves into trouble
they couldn’t get out of. It happened even then but Police Commissioner Arthur
Woods didn’t want to just look the other way while children got themselves into
situations they couldn’t get out of.
In his quest to help these poor children who lived in
congested tenements the Police Commissioner started to look around the City for
vacant lots. He had a plan but he needed playgrounds. A man on a mission, he
set aside city blocks where traffic was prohibited. He had a goal and that was
to reduce tensions between the police and the youth of the city he so loved. He
made friends where ever he went to set up play streets, as they were called.
Both mothers and children alike were excited and encouraged by his efforts and
thanked him.
From 1914 to 1929 Play Streets provided a safe place for children
to play. Their goal was to bring about the opportunity to bring children
together in a positive environment under proper supervision and in doing so
reduce the temptation that faced the younger generation of getting themselves
into trouble and the possibility of not being able to get on the right track in
life. Another positive note of Play Streets was it brought about a positive
interaction between police officers and the children of the neighborhood.
Captain John Sweeney of the Lower East Side 15th
police precinct was thinking along the same lines also in 1914 when he
developed the Junior Police. This was a program for young boys. Everyone who
joined in this group wore a uniform and participated in marching drills. It too
ran on its own from 1914-1929 reaching 22 precincts in New York and over 4,000
boys. Their goal was to teach civic responsibility, bring about a positive
relationship between the Police and boys, and laying a foundation for a good citizenship.
New York had a new Police Commissioner in 1929, Grover A.
Whalen who appointed a committee on crime prevention. He was concerned with the
growing population of juvenile delinquency. The focus the police department had
on working with the youth of the communities intensified. The police department
took the lead in providing well supervised recreation for the children in order
to keep them off the streets and get them into a more productive program.
In 1932 in an annual report put out by the Police Department
it was expressed that since the country was in a depression the ones who were
more likely to suffer permanent damage were the children. After this report The
Crime Prevention Bureau which was formed in 1931 thanks to a bill signed by
Mayor James J. Walker, and formed the Junior Police Athletic League.
Like all organizations and new ideas it wasn’t perfect but
it was a work in progress and growing in numbers and strength. In 1936 the
Police Athletic League under Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine was
reorganized. He took a different stand on getting kids off the street and out
of trouble. Commissioner Valentine obtained a list of 5,000 truant children and
enrolled them in P.A.L.
P.A.L. was growing fast in the late 1930’s with over 70,000
members. It now operated 69 indoor centers. Many of these centers were
dedicated to the memory of police officers who died in the line of duty. It was
an amazing program running through New York helping so many children who might
have ended up lost.
New York City World’s Fair opened in 1939 with many exhibits
to see and so much to do. Fun for everyone. A day was set aside at the World’s
Fair in New York City to celebrate P.A.L. On September 6, 1939 it was P.A.L.
Day at the World’s Fair and a Playstreet was set up right in the heart of the
fair. The following year from May 18th to October 27th,
1940 P.A.L. activities were demonstrated at the New York City building. Once
again a day was dedicated as P.A.L. Day at the World’s Fair which was September
4th, 1940. As with the previous year a play street was set up at the
fair and it was the largest day of attendance of children at the fair for 1940.
During WWII P.A.L. got the children involved in wartime
efforts. They organized scrap salvage drives, they helped with the Red Cross, and
they helped by providing supervised care for children whose parents were engaged
in war work and civilian defense duties. They taught the children the
importance of coming together as a community to help one another and join together
for a stronger unity.
WWII brought budget cuts and the lack of funds threatened the
Juvenile Aid Bureau which was once the Criminal Prevention Bureau. When the
announcement came that the bureau was to be abolished the public would not
stand for it. Low and behold funds were found to continue on with this great
service to the children and families of the community and the P.A.L.
organization continued.
After WWII P.A.L. began to hire social workers to assist
with troubled children, they created a Placement Division to help young people
find jobs, and they provided vocational guidance. They were growing and doing
well for their communities. In the 1950’s P.A.L. athletes won the Golden Gloves
and they competed in the summer Olympics in Helsinki in 1952 and again in Melbourne
in 1956.
In 1944 P.A.L. went national serving needed communities
around the country. Police Officers giving of their time to help the children
in their communities achieve their dreams. The National Organization is run by
civilian leadership but the police are still very active in volunteering their
time to be there to coach and cheer them on.
The National P.A.L. provides local Chapters with resources
and opportunities to grow their own programs. They find funding through grants and
other avenues of funding for such organizations including corporate partners
and supporting organizations.
The dream of two men has spread across this country with P.A.L.
programs nationwide with over 300 P.A.L. Member Chapters in law enforcement
agencies serving various cities throughout the United States. They work with
children from ages 5 to 18, bring young athletes together to compete, they
strive to develop a strong positive attitude towards the police officers that
they can carry with them into their adulthood and teach their children in the
future.
Children encouraged, supported and supervised with positive influence
from law enforcement helps children understand the role of a police officer and
reinforces responsible values and attitudes not only to the young people but to
the adults as well.
As I have said before if we teach our children young about
the importance of the police and show them our police officers are not there to
do them harm but to help and be there for them then they will learn to respect
our law enforcement at a young age. When a child sees a police officer joining
in a ball game, coming to a classroom to give a talk on career day, or just
joking around they get to see them as an average person just like anyone else
who has a job to do and they take it seriously because they are responsible for
the community these children live in.
P.A.L. teaches everyone to respect one another. The children
learn to respect their neighbors and neighborhood therefore respecting the businesses
and business owners in their community and in seeing all the hard work the
police do not just while on duty but coaching at the gym, baseball field or
joining in community activities of any kind, they learn respect for the police.
P.A.L. brings communities together which helps all to heal because united we
stand strong.
May God Bless America and all the P.A.L. volunteers,
workers, and children who work so hard to bring it all together!
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