Police Athletic League
2006-2007 Board Members

Captain Gary Carroll, Executive Director

Officer Stephanie Patterson, Program Director

Michael Chronicle
Patrick Cousins
Chris Fox
John Howard
Bill Keiser
Gregory Kino
Kenneth Lemoine
Gail Levine
Willie Miller
Sid Poe
John Roberts
Laura Robinson
Richard Ryles
Ulysses Smith
Rhett Turnquest
Michael Welte
Harriet Zahn
Richard Hitchins
Cheryl Sine

P.A.L. is a recreation-oriented juvenile crime prevention program that relies heavily upon athletics and recreational activities to create and strengthen the bond between the police officers and kids.

P.A.L. is America’s largest crime prevention program designed to prevent juvenile involved crimes and to reduce the number of juveniles arrested by providing youth with a safe environment, meaningful activities and positive role models.

P.A.L. is a program that promotes greater trust and understanding between youngsters and officers.

P.A.L. is more than a mere athletic program, more than a friendly neighborhood baby sitter. It is a very potent crime deterrent. An opportunity to get to kids before they get into trouble. The components of the West Palm Beach Police Athletic League are academic enrichment, character development, recreational activities and community service.

Studies have shown that if a youngster respects a police officer on the ball field or in the gym, he or she will very likely come to respect the laws that the police officer enforces.

P.A.L.’s mission is to serve all youth. To steer them on the right path. To instill good health habits, good sportsmanship and high morals and civic standards in youth. To help fulfill the need for recreational, educational and social activities that are designed to deter crime and rehabilitate the youthful first time offender.

P.A.L. focuses on team sports to achieve the above mission. Focusing on team building, conflict resolution and developing positive self esteem and self worth in youth that are, by virtue of their residential and domestic status, are surrounded by negativity on a regular basis. Programs are ongoing all year outside of the child’s school environment where it is needed most.

Understanding the history of P.A.L is necessary so that you may fully appreciate the program and the potential benefits it can provide in our ongoing battle against juvenile crime.

P.A.L started with a bang! No seriously! a rock through a window.

A gang of New York youth were harassing store owners and generally making life miserable in their neighborhood, they threw a rock that eventually pioneered this new approach to problem of juvenile delinquency.

Lt. Ed Flynn, the police department ‘s Crime Prevention Bureau was on duty that fateful day. To him it was another day of kids getting into trouble, but it was more than that.

Lt. Flynn liked kids. He wondered at the uselessness of always punishing them. He wondered why they couldn’t be reached before they were in trouble.

That day he made it a point to search out the gang’s ringleader. They talked as Lt. Flynn listened for the reasons behind the kid’s antisocial behavior. The ringleader began pouring out his frustrations of the ghetto telling the officer, “Man, we ain’t got no place to play…nothing to do. The cops are always hasslin’ us. We can’t even play baseball.”

Lt. Flynn thought about that. A staunch baseball fan himself, he began to wonder… “Why should the police chase kids for doing what was normal. Why not help those kids form a team? Give them a place to play under police supervision. Be a friend instead of an enemy.”

He talked it over with some of his fellow officers and some of the neighborhood store owners. They liked the idea and each of them chipped in a dollar for equipment and uniforms.

Lt. Flynn found a playground where the group could play under the eye of friendly policemen. The team was an instant success. Before the year was out there were close to a dozen teams in the city. In 1937, PAL dedicated its first indoor youth center and in 1941, it became incorporated under the laws of the State of New York.

That was the birth of PAL. Beginning with athletics, it has since broaden its scope to include arts and crafts, dance, music, drama, social services, vocational guidance, remedial reading, gardening, field trips and virtually any good healthy activity that kids are fond of.

There now exists a State PAL organization and a National PAL organization both of which the City of West Palm Beach PAL is a member.

The history of the City of West Palm Beach PAL dates back to the late 80’s with the Police Department’s Youth Sports Program. Officers coached youth baseball and soccer at Phipp’s Park. Most was done on a voluntary basis, some coached during working hours.

Times have truly changed, with the increase in crime and the decrease in revenues to hire more officers programs like PAL that rely heavily on officer participation during non-school hours suffer.

In an effort to strengthen, expand and make our PAL program more efficient it is necessary to engage the community. PAL needs an abundance of volunteers and financial backing in order to strive.

The police department did not implement P.A.L. as a recreation program for youth solely for the sake of providing recreation for children. This is a function of our Parks and Recreation Dept. this is not a police function.

The police department has added reasons for providing such activities, a few of which includes but is not limited to the following:

• youth crime and violence are often the result of too few opportunities for young people to be active, valued, and involved.
• P.A.L. offers constructive, safe, crime and violence free activities for youth during non-school hours.
• a large number of youth in the inner city area cannot afford to participate in sports activities outside of school hours, thus resorting to crime and delinquent activities to pass time.
• P.A.L. makes it possible for all youth to get involved by paying registration fees and purchasing safety equipment for the youth.
• P.A.L. does not duplicate the programs and services provided by recreation departments, we simply enhance them by making it possible for at risk youth to get involved and participate, thus reducing the juvenile related crime and offenses.