The Portland Police Chief announced Monday that the bureau is forming a Youth Services Division. As Simon Boas reports, the new division will consolidate the bureau’s existing youth services under one roof.
The new division will bring together the School Resource Officers, the Gang Resistance Education Program, the Cadet and Reserves Program and the Police Activities League.
Each program will keep its mission, such as educating kids to keep them out of gangs and in school. But the programs will also work together to build one-on-one relationships between Portland kids and police officers.
Captain Kevin Modica will head the new division.
Kevin Modica: “There’s nothing like a good relationship with a police officer. … It has helped in the community, it has helped with our relationship, and we have the opportunity to make a difference. And that’s what this is all about.”
The Bureau hopes that kids will see police officers as a part of their community that they can trust. The new youth division will be located in the Police Bureau’s North Precinct.
