Game on!: Milwaukee's Police Athletic League is back

Emam Washington, 18, views the police differently now.

“They are really no different than us. They come from the same hardships in their life just as I do,” said Washington, a student at Rufus King High School.

Washington’s view changed thanks to the relaunch of the Milwaukee Police Athletic League. The program aims to improve police relations among youth while providing positive activities to keep them off the streets.

Since January, the program has hosted teen nights once a month at different community centers throughout the city. Washington’s youth center, Neighborhood House of Milwaukee, is among the few participating in the league.

Washington said he learned about the police at his center’s teen night which included a frank discussion with police. These interactions, he said, will go a long way to improving police relations with youth because of the connection they make.

“Just because (they wear) a badge and a uniform really doesn’t separate them,” he said.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson and the city’s police Chief Jeffrey Norman officially announced the program Friday during a news conference at the Children's Outing Association-Goldin Center, 2320 W. Burleigh. The program is making its return to the city after nearly a two-decade absence. It’s always been a goal of Norman to reinstate the program.

This effort, Norman said, is the “proof in the pudding” of the department’s investment in the city’s young people.

“Our youth don’t engage in these (criminal) activities just because they wake up and say, ‘They want to,” Norman said. “There is no support, activities or people investing in them."

Rank and file officers will volunteer as mentors, coaches, role models and advocates in a way that connects with youth on a more personal level that builds trust, Norman said. He noted the program has had proven results showing a link between youth crime prevention and PAL.

“The Police Athletic League is based on the conviction that young people – if reached early enough can cultivate strong positive attitudes towards and with law enforcement,” said Norman, who became chief in November 2021. “By providing a safe environment for young people and a place for our officers to interact with them, we are breaking down traditional boundaries.”

The department is working with United Neighborhood Centers of Milwaukee to implement the program. UNCOM is a collaboration of eight youth organizations that will rotate the MPAL program. Each youth center will design activities like sports, STEM or art for youth and police based on the center’s programming.             

Johnson said there are a multitude of good options for young people to have fun, to learn, and to receive guidance, but PAL adds to those opportunities, as well as increases safety.

“It is not just police. It is not just schools. It takes everybody,” Johnson said.

This initiative helps recognize the humanness of both youth and police, said Ashanti Hamilton, director of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention. Often, he said, the police and the community are pitted against each other. Initiatives like this chip away at those differences by creating real moments for youth to understand the challenges of policing and for police officers to understand the challenges facing youth, Hamilton said.

“We know that in order for communities to feel safe that we are going to have to count on the police department to play a major role in making that happen,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton thanked UNCOM for creating the spaces for these interactions to happen.

Youth violence often spikes in the summer. When asked how MPAL could curtail that, UNCOM’s executive director Renee Logee said only time will tell.

“We don’t have a magic wand, but keeping kids active, busy with a variety of positive options, and continuing to talk to keep the dialogue going is only going to benefit everyone,” Logee said.

Lemarus Shields, 16, already has seen the benefits though. He participated in a teen night program at the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center. He admits he had some reservations, but he is beginning to feel at ease with the police.

“I really don’t like to talk to police officers because I know that I have bad blood with them in the past,” Shields said. “But if it did good for me, I feel like it would do good for other kids that are just like me.”

Damonte Burnett, 17, a student at Nova High School, hosted his youth center’s teen night, which had a STEM focus. Youth and police did robotics and made helium-propelled rockets together. He too feels more comfortable with police and now knows not all police are bad.

“Every police officer is not the same,” said Burnett, who's involved in Children's Outing Association's youth program. 

PAL operated in the city for years and was very popular among youth. In the early 2000s, the organization filed for bankruptcy after building a $6 million, 54,000-square-foot facility, which was later sold at auction. 

The Children's Outing Association now owns the building, which originally housed MPAL.

Norman said he doesn’t dwell on the past when questioned why PAL ceased operation years ago. He is looking toward the future and how this new initiative can better service and support youth today.

Norman wants to expand MPAL beyond the youths served by these eight programs. He wants every youth in the city to be involved in this program. So he put out a call to action.

Norman put out a call to action.

“Get involved. If your organization serves young people, please reach out to us,” Norman said.

To learn how your youth organization can get involved email mpdpal@milwuakee.gov

Editor's note, May 22, 2023: An earlier version of this story gave an incomplete picture of the timeline of events leading up to PAL's end in the early 2000s.