Center of Attention : At-Risk Youths Are Hanging Out With the Police at a Place Where Both Sides Benefit

Valentino was kicked out of three Westside high schools for fighting on campus. Now, the only blows he throws are in the boxing ring at Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica.

After he joined the boxing gym last August, Valentino dropped out of the gang he belonged to, got a part-time job at Taco Bell and made plans to join the military after graduation.

The catalyst for this transformation was, of all things, the police.

Valentino is one of about 800 at-risk youths, ranging in age from 6 to 17, who participate in the Santa Monica Police Department’s Police Activities League (PAL). Boxing is one of the many activities the program offers.

The 17-year-old said rigorous training has “relaxed his mind” and helped him to mature.

“It made me think positive,” said Valentino, who has traded his low-rider garb for work slacks and a shirt. “I was a kid in my mind. I just thought about having fun, going out late at night and playing around. I never thought about getting a job and a driver’s license. . . . Now, I know I can get good at boxing if I want. . . . I know I can do anything.”

PAL opened its doors in Virginia Avenue Park in 1989, one year after police established a community outreach center there, said Helen Albright, senior administrative analyst with the Santa Monica Police Department.

The center was designed to encourage residents of the largely Latino, low- to moderate-income neighborhood to report crimes and get involved in crime prevention. Officers also gave out information on matters such as housing and how to apply for a driver’s license.

Officials were surprised when “all these children started coming out and hanging out with the cops,” Albright said. “They said they had nothing to do and no place to go.”

At the same time, a city-sponsored committee was looking for ways to target gangs and drugs, which were especially concentrated in the Pico Corridor neighborhood in which Virginia Avenue Park is located. The idea of creating a local chapter of PAL, a national police organization that reaches out to at-risk youth through sports, took root.

Today, the Santa Monica chapter of PAL has an annual operating budget of $32,100. In addition, PAL is staffed by four full-time city employees, including two police officers, a program coordinator from the Cultural and Recreation Services Department and a clerical worker from the Police Department. There is also a part-time trainer for the gym.

By December, PAL will move into new facilities under construction at Memorial Park, less than a mile away, said Officer George Centeno, PAL director.

The $860,000, 10,000-square-foot facility will include an indoor basketball court, a dance studio, classrooms, a lounge, a kitchen and an outdoor amphitheater. The project was funded by a $795,695 grant from the California Youth Authority, plus $25,100 from PAL and $25,000 from the city of Santa Monica. The city pledged to pick up the difference plus contingency costs.

The boxing gym will remain at Virginia Avenue Park. Centeno hopes to raise money for a mini-bus to shuttle youths between the two parks.

PAL carries on the Police Department’s goal of strengthening ties with the community. But its primary goal is to keep youths out of gangs and in school through sports, education and personal guidance.

PAL’s wide variety of activities for both boys and girls include gymnastics, football, field trips and instruction in computers and auto mechanics. Counseling is also available. About 250 youths at a time actively participate.

All activities are supervised and free, down to the white uniforms supplied for karate classes.

Participation is generated mostly by word of mouth in the community, although police and school officials often refer youths to PAL.

Students at two Westside alternative schools take PE class through PAL-Wilshire West School, a private school for youths with learning and social adjustment problems, and Olympic High School, a continuation school in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

Officers Centeno and Jay Trisler have an informal, open-door policy. They dress in civilian clothing (although once a month, they dress in uniform to remind kids who they are).

Both officers say that working with the kids is more fulfilling than patrolling the streets.

“You know there are some kids you’re not going to reach,” Trisler said on a recent afternoon. “But sometimes, you see kids swaying on the edge. You try to keep them out of gangs by showing them there’s something else to do besides gangbanging.”

A light rain fell quietly outside, but inside the PAL office was buzzing with activity. A dozen bright-eyed children chattered excitedly about upcoming activities.

“Who’s taking us to the Dodgers game?”

“Did you sign me up for acting class?”

Jose, 12, picked up a ringing phone. “Police Activities League,” he said with confidence.

“It’s fun,” said Ivonne, 12, who like many of the children routinely hangs out in the office to talk with Centeno and Trisler and help with programs. “At home I watch too much TV.”

The children are sensitive to crime in their neighborhoods.

“I really don’t like walking the streets because you never know what can happen,” said Abel, 15, pointing out that he could be mistaken for a gang member because of the clothes he wears--a black sports jacket and black Dodgers cap. “Instead of being bored at home doing nothing, kids can come here and be safe and have a good time.”

PAL depends heavily on a fleet of about 40 volunteers to help supervise sporting events and field trips.

Frank Estrada, who grew up in the barrios of East Los Angeles, said he volunteers because he thinks the program works. He was impressed with the non-confrontational way PAL officers relate to the kids.

“These kids grew up fighting the system,” he said. “As soon as they realize they can get things done within the system, things work out better for them.”

Valentino doesn’t have time to get into trouble these days. When he’s not at work or at Wilshire West School, he trains at the gym, runs or watches his diet.

Boxing coach Fred Horn, a former professional football player and amateur boxer, tries to impart discipline and self-esteem to his students. He does not tolerate swearing in the gym.

Horn recently gained membership in the USA Amateur Boxing Assn., qualifying PAL boxers to compete on the Olympic circuit.

“I try to teach them they are responsible for their own choices,” he said. “And that society doesn’t want them to fail but wants them to be successful. They think about it. Then, maybe, they begin to act on it.”