Texarkana, Ark., police are seeing the benefits of its P.R.I.D.E. Academy in the decreasing number of juveniles involved in crimes.
"The juvenile arrest rate in Texarkana, Ark., has fallen about 57 percent in the past seven years. We expect our numbers to continue to decrease as we double the number of participants in the P.R.I.D.E. programs over the next three years," said Officer Kristi Bennett, spokeswoman for TAPD.
"We are excited about it," Bennett said. "We were hoping to see a difference in the crime rate. But we didn't know what to expect because we didn't have anything to compare it to."
The P.R.I.D.E. Academy is a five-day camp for 100 entering sixth-graders in the Texarkana, Ark., School District that provides tools and education for students to make positive life choices. It places police officers as coaches with these students along with other instructors and health care professionals. The students are taught decision-making skills, coping techniques, enhanced self-esteem and anger management. Each year, the students complete at least two community service projects such as cleaning up local parks and packaging food at the local food bank. The students also gain school and community pride and build a more positive view of law enforcement.
Bennett developed the concept for the P.R.I.D.E. program to provide a diversion program for economically and socially disadvantaged at-risk students to help them learn life, people and behavioral coping skills.
"We want them equipped to choose to be productive members of the community as they move into adulthood rather than emulate some of the poor life choices such as gang membership and criminal enterprise that they have as examples in the home," Bennett said.
Some of the activities include team building, obstacle course, skits, music and meeting the K-9's. Additionally, the campers learn about dangers of drugs and alcohol, gang prevention, peer pressure, anti-bullying, internet safety, gun safety, first aid and what to do in an emergency. The last day of the camp is designed to recognize the children's accomplishments over the week. The day ends with a graduation ceremony attended by their families and diplomas awarded by the Chief of Police. Campers are also given a full-size backpack containing all of the required school supplies needed for the upcoming school year.
Prior to 2012, children with behavioral and social problems living in Texarkana had no access to preventative services, Bennett said. The only programs available for at-risk youth were during felony incarceration in a juvenile detention facility, and those were limited to a life skills or drug abuse class.
TAPD was overwhelmed with juveniles committing misdemeanor offences, such as theft or simple assault, that did not result in any type of corrective programs or require incarceration.
Bennett said early intervention has proven effective in developing productive future citizens and in reducing the risk of a future lifestyle in criminal behaviors/activity.
Based on this premise, the P.R.I.D.E. program seeks to instill values and modify behavior by teaching life, emotional and social skills, encouraging cooperation and community service and promoting positive life choices among young children in the community.
In order to develop a program to address this services gap, TAPD partnered with Sarah Powell of the Southwest Arkansas Prevention Task Force. This partnership was critical in having the range of knowledge, skills and resources necessary for P.R.I.D.E. to go from a concept to a reality, Bennett said.
The first-year P.R.I.D.E. Academy graduates entered into high school in the 2016-17 school year. This means that the program is now spanning across all schools within the school district. The participants from the first class have been tracked since 2012 and will continue to be monitored throughout their school career.
The data compiled indicate that 94 percent of P.R.I.D.E. graduates had no disciplinary actions as they advanced in school after completion of P.R.I.D.E. Comparatively, 43 percent of comparable middle schoolers in the same age group have no disciplinary actions at school.
"We are just now beginning to see the long-term impact of the P.R.I.D.E. Academy through the data and statistics that have been gathered so far," Bennett said.
Besides P.R.I.D.E. Academy, the program encompasses two other components: Y2L (Youth to Leadership) and COOL Kids (Coaching Our Outstanding Youth).
COOL Kids is an aftercare portion of the academy where relationships with officers and mentors continue to develop.
The Y2L program is for P.R.I.D.E. elite recruits when they enter high school. It provides them the opportunity to give back to the program by mentoring younger participants.