Building Bridges

Early Saturday about 15 kids stand near 16th Street North and 15th Avenue. Two raise a sign bigger than both of them. “Car wash!” they yell in spontaneous spurts. For the moment, there’s a sense of calm while cars whiz by. It’s one of the few times that Coach Vader Green will have the chance to sit down today. There’s been a lull in this fund-raising car wash for quite some time, but the children aren’t fazed. Spread out in clusters, their high-pitched laughs and shrieks mesh into one indistinct sound.

Then Coach Green leaps up. “Hey, Kirstie!” he calls, cautioning one of the kids who has just tried crossing the street. His eyes stay fixed on her until she reaches the other side.

Vader Green is the youth development director for the Police Athletic League, a St. Petersburg chapter of the national organization. Having grown up as a P.A.L. kid in St. Petersburg, he believes that community-based programs for kids are essential for crime-prevention.

“The problems going on now -- I don’t think it was that bad when I was growing up,” Green says. Auto theft, burglary, drug possession are way up, he says. “People need to do something to help these children.”

In St. Petersburg last year, police arrested:

• 131 juveniles for aggravated assault;
• 22 for forcible sex offenses;
• 519 for theft;
• 181 for narcotics offenses; and
• 40 for vandalism.

P.A.L. directors said they can’t pinpoint a particularly high-crime area, but in the area bounded by Dr. M. L. King Street South to 4th Street South and 11th Avenue South to 30th Avenue South, 307 offenders committed violent crimes. This is the highest crime rate in the city, according to last year’s Police Uniform Crime Report.

P.A.L., which is open to youth throughout the city, concentrates on children from low-income households. About 70 percent of the children in the program are African American. Many of them live in St. Petersburg’s public housing facilities such as James Park and Jordan Court, said Executive Director Lerric Boyd.

“As an African American, your biggest fear is your kid is gonna grow up, get involved in crime, get locked up and put away for life,” said Delta Oliver. Her 15-year-old daughter grew up with P.A.L. and her 9-year-old son is in the summer program.

Parents said P.A.L. has been a valuable resource, especially for families with low incomes.

“You can actually afford after-school care ... and feel confident they’re going to be watched,” she said.

Camp counselor Joseph McCall, a college student from North Carolina, said he comes to St. Petersburg P.A.L. every summer because he wants to provide the kids with an African-American role model.

“They get to go to places they normally wouldn’t get to go in their lifetime,” Oliver said. “That instills in them that if they want something, they can just work for it.”

Carrington, Oliver’s son, said his favorite trip was to New York for a track and field meet. Eleven-year-old Quintin McLaurin, who proudly says he’s competed in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, long jump and pole vault relay, said his favorite trip was to Virginia, another track and field meet. Five years ago, P.A.L. sent five 10- and 11-year-old baseball players to Shizuoka, Japan, where they competed in the World Children’s Baseball Fair.

This year, 101 kids are spending their summer with P.A.L.’s camp, which keeps them busy all day. Overall, 451 kids are involved with P.A.L. through programs like track, basketball and cheerleading.

The St. Petersburg P.A.L. chapter formed in 1960 as a non-profit organization dedicated to crime prevention and fostering a closer relationship between law enforcement and youth. It relies mostly on fund-raising and grants to survive. The need for this program, said Pinellas County Campus Police Chief Tom Gavin, has increased every year.

Two full-time police officers and a civilian staff run P.A.L. Director of Operations Tom Manning said he uses his police background to tailor the program for crime-prevention. Police officers make anti-drug presentations.

Police and St. Petersburg locals don’t always get along. In 1996, a white officer fatally shot a black teenager, spurring riots that left at least 11 people injured. Although some said the riot soured community relations with the police, P.A.L. directors said it didn’t change the direction of the program. Generally, city residents have supported P.A.L. regardless of their feelings toward the police.

As south St. Petersburg resident Fletcher Axon put it, “As long as it’s helping to get kids off the street, that’s all that matters.”