About
Cops and Clubs
Collaborating on Behalf of Kids Across Communities
Clubs collaborate weekly with local police on drug and alcohol prevention, truancy abatement, lowering arrest rates, drivers' education, youth recreation, safety training, reading programs and public awareness. Police officers serve on our Boards of Directors, on our staffs, and even as Club CEOs after retirement. We regularly hold events together several times a year.
Officer Testimonials
“From a law enforcement perspective, the B&G Club is instrumental in providing early intervention to youth. Without the clubs influence, many of our youth would choose a path that might ultimately lead them towards the criminal justice system.”
-Andrew Krahenbuhl, School Resource Deputy & Barron County Club Board President
“As a proud Board member of the Boys and Girls Club, I couldn’t think of a better partner to develop a partnership alongside. As the saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child.” I wanted our police department to be a valued member of that village and teaming with the Boys and Girls Club has assisted us in being a valued partner.”
-Andre Sayles, Beloit Chief of Police
“The Boys and Girls Club and Janesville Police Department work cooperatively to aid the development of trust between our community’s youth and law enforcement. This working relationship helps build open and positive lines of communications through youth lead topics, it facilitates a better understanding of law enforcement’s role and purpose, it breaks down barriers and misunderstanding, and in the long-term increases the probability of a safer community.”
-Janesville Deputy Chief of Police Chad Pearson
“The Fond du Lac Police Department and Boys & Girls Club of Fond du Lac continue to create youth focused engagement events and activities where our youth and police have opportunities to better understand each other. These collaborative events lead to increased trust and positive relationships….FDLPD and BGCFDL fosters a togetherness which is essential to building and maintaining positive police-youth relationships. We are a better police department because of these efforts.”
-Aaron Goldstein, Chief of Police for the City of Fond du Lac Police Department
“We have noticed that the age of juveniles we seem to be dealing with has gotten younger. They may not necessarily involve arrests, but the social issues and family disturbances involving juveniles seems to show more serious issues at a younger age. ...our average age of arrest for juveniles has been 14 yrs (2017), 13.6yrs (2018) and 14.1 yrs (2019). This age group is the group that we tend to see that has a variety of stressors in their life, and is at an age that is extremely important to be provided strong guidance and mentoring to avoid becoming involved in irresponsible behavior.”
-Ripon Police Chief Bill Wallner
"There are greater public safety returns on investment with programs other than putting money towards enforcement....Look, I would have traded 10 cops for another Boys & Girls Club..."
-Camden NJ Police Chief Scott Thomson
"I am a Probation and Parole Agent and I can't tell you how many younger clients that I have come across that never gotten their driver's license. I was shocked. Once the curriculum was removed from schools some parents choose not to get their student their license due to the expense or time or whatever. Those kids grow up and usually drive without it and end up digging themselves a hole with fines and even criminal charges after so many times they are stopped. This program will do so much to help get valid driver's licenses and have a great impact on the overall community and court system. Just wanted to give you my perspective. Thanks so much for doing this!"
-Ryan Helmuth, Local probation and parole officer in Berlin
"We either invest in our kids, or we invest money in more jails."-General Colin Powell's remarks at the opening of our 2,000th Club
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFHVrCYNP9E
“The Boys and Girls Clubs of Janesville has worked cooperatively with the Janesville Police Department on creating positive connections with our youth and police officers. Most recently we teamed up with the Kiwanis in the Cops ‘n Kids book reading program. This program allows police officers to read to kids with the goal of promoting children’s literacy and community trust in law enforcement. The Boys and Girls Club has utilized this program during their summer and after school programs. They are great partners, and take an active role in our community’s efforts to support our children at home and in life.”
-Janesville Police Sergeant Dean Sukas
Examples of Collaboration
At Kenosha, we partnered with law enforcement to target at risk teens with a summer youth employment program, driving down arrests as much as 74% from past years. We can show proven success of this collaboration between clubs and police between 2009 and 2017. (Spreadsheet available)
In La Crosse, the Police Chief & Sheriff's Department are on the board of directors and safety committee. They hold trainings on emergency response, mental health first aid, youth mental health, and community focus. Neighborhood resource officers are seen weekly at our clubs there, and we hold eight events a year with police. Our BGC legion baseball team is sponsored by the La Crosse police department union, and we recently ran 30 second PSA's on local television in partnership with police.
In Rhinelander, our Board President is a Detective Sergeant for the Rhinelander Police Department, and is the reason we now have a Club in Rhinelander. He saw the need when he got more involved with the Drug Endangered Children Coalition. He stops in at the Club multiple times a week and is very involved in making sure we serve any many youth as possible.
In Antigo, our Club has Sergeant DJ Eldridge on our Safety Committee. He is also the SWAT leader. Both the Langlade County Sheriff’s Department and Antigo Police Department use our building for trainings and trained our staff in ALICE.
In Berlin, the Club's facilities manager is a retired police officer, and works daily with kids. Last year the club collaborated with police on how their driver’s education program was a huge piece to breaking the cycle of incarceration. (Testimonial below) They have several great relationships with active officers in Berlin & Ripon.
In West-Central Wisconsin, a longtime President of the Board was Officer Timothy Becker, Chief of the Reedsburg Police Department. He's moved on to become the Reedsburg city administrator, and is a great advocate for our clubs.
In Wisconsin Rapids, our former Chief of Police serves on our board. We have had a Wood County Deputy serve on our board and safety committee. We also have had the Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker and other deputies to do some active shooter and safety trainings.
In Janesville, club collaboration includes police serving on club safety committee, law enforcement reviewing our safety response manual, and officers coming to Club on a weekly basis. They read to our youth, answer youth questions, and socialize with youth. Chad Pearson, the Deputy Chief of operations for Janesville Police Department, serves on our club board.
In Stevens Point, police are actively involved in our YES Program, referring children to get help. We have combined trainings for Active Shooter drills, ALICE trainings, and similar efforts. The Police Department runs our fingerprint background checks for us, and Officers stop in our clubs to play with our kiddos. The Sherriff has always been on our Club Board. The Chief of Police served as well, and the club is next door to the police station. We have several local law enforcement personnel in our governance, including the Safety Committee.
In Oshkosh, Officer Kate Mann is on our safety committee, and officers come on a yearly basis to do active shooter/intruder training. We also have a program with Detective Vang called STEP UP. We won an Honor Award at National Conference one year, and you can see more at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQv-t6M6ojo&t=56s
In Fond du Lac, Chief of Police Aaron Goldstein is Past President of the Club Board, and still serves. Whether it’s helping with homework, playing kickball, or just hanging out, he shares when club kids and officers get to know each other better, we start to discover mutual goals we have for our beloved City. FDLPD’s collaboration with BGCFDL also provides a means for Police Officers to lean in, gain insight, and cultivate a better understanding of different perspectives and lived experiences from our youth.
In Wausau, the Police Department has been a great collaborative partner with the local club. Chief Hardel and Officer Baeten were both on our Board of Directors for a long time and serve as strong advocates for kids. Office Koua Thao is currently on our Safety Committee and a school liaison officer. Officer Frank Wierzbanowski of Everest Metro Police Department continues to be a great resource of our Club sites in the D.C. Everest School District. His ongoing communication with our staff helps ensure Club Members are safe.
For more than twenty years, the Milwaukee Clubs and Milwaukee Police Department jointly operated the Truancy Abatement Program (TABS) which identified chronically truant youth in the community and paired them with Club case managers to assist in reconnecting the youth with school. In order to foster greater understanding and acceptance between police and local teens, we have operated a Straight Talk program between police and teens engage in informal discussions to see each other as fellow members of the same community. Both our local Police Chief and County Sheriff on our board. Most recently, both Ed Flynn (Police Chief) and Earnell Lucas and Lev Baldwin (County Sheriff) have served in our governance.
Events
In Red Cliff, on August 30th, Boys & Girls Club of Gitchigami held an event called Serve Pizza and Protect, where they host a kickball game and pizza party with the local police department. They also have one of the officers come in weekly for a program called Police Mentorship.
In La Crosse, we hold several events in collaboration with police including:
· Planting with Police
· PLAY Week (Participating in the Lives of Area Youth)
· BGC Blue Crew
At the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Greater Chippewa Valley, club youth and law enforcement hold 'Cops & Kids', where two community police officers came to the Club and read to 5 different groups of kids. They interacted with 60 kids of various ages, and then engaged with them as they were choosing their books. Representative Jesse James, an active police officer in Altoona, was at the recent Altoona Club opening and advocated for the club in his newsletter.
In Wausau, one of youth member’s favorite events is WPD versus kids’ dodgeball/basketball/ kickball nights. The goal is to help foster healthy relationships with officers and connect our members to local resources.
In Oshkosh, they have officers come on an almost weekly basis to interact with our youth. This includes reading to kids, playing games in the gym, eating with kids, playing carpet ball, shooting pool, and much more.
At Wisconsin Rapids, our club collaborates with the Wisconsin Rapids and Wood County Sheriff’s Department. “National Night Out” was held Aug. 2, and this event is aimed at giving club kids a positive experience with the law enforcement. https://wrcitytimes.com/2022/08/03/national-night-out-draws-good-crowds/