Police Department

Youth and Police Initiative (YPI) Graduation TODAY at 4:30 p.m. at the West Central Community Center

Monique Cotton, Director of Communication and Public Information, 509.363.8285

Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 3:54 p.m.

The Spokane Police Department Youth and Police Initiative (YPI) will graduate the program’s 7th session TODAY, September 23, 2014, at 4:30 p.m., at the West Central Community Center (1603 N. Belt St, Spokane, WA 99205).

The next YPI session, (number 8) will be held at Excelsior Youth Center on October 20, 21, 22 and October 27 and 28 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

YPI is a one week program promoting positive interactions between the Spokane Police Department and Spokane youth.

Additional information on the program:

Through YPI, the Spokane Police Department and community organizations work together to build more positive relationships between participating youth, the community and law enforcement.

The ultimate goal of YPI is to enhance police officer understanding of the beliefs, values, and experiences of local youth, and to promote positive police/youth interaction. YPI participants experience facilitated discussion, team-building exercises and reality-based training scenarios. From these experiences, youth and police develop new initiatives to enhance community policing.

Participating youth are selected by local community leaders. Participating police officers will attend each session. Additionally, patrol officers in each of the selected neighborhoods will meet and interact with the youth during the workshop.

Following the implementation of YPI programs in the police departments of Baltimore, Boston, White Plans, and Yonkers, participants demonstrated an increased capacity to productively engage with adolescents within urban communities. According to North American Family Institute, the YPI program pro-actively assisted officers in reducing street violence in the following ways:

• 50% increase in police officers’ understanding of adolescent development.
• 65% increase in police officer knowledge of urban socialization issues.
• 50% improvement in the use of effective communication strategies involving de-escalation, crisis intervention and problem-solving skills.

Related Photos

• Session of the Youth and Police Initiative

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