Doing the Little Things That Matter : Making Los Angeles more livable demands the creativity and involvement of citizens. Today, Next L.A. looks at two programs that started small and make a difference. : NEXT L.A. / A look at issues, people and ideas helping to shape the emerging metropolis

One day Heather Sugars just had enough. Tamel, her 7-year-old problem child, had gotten into fights at school, talked back to teachers and hurled himself against the wall in a tantrum. When he refused to come from under his bed--a favorite act of disobedience--Sugars called police and begged them to take Tamel away.

Instead of locking up the boy, the police “adopted” him. Tamel was one of the first students last fall to enter a pilot program run by Marvin Avenue Elementary School called HOPES (Helping Our Public Education System).

An officer from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division volunteered to be a mentor to the youth, his mother was enrolled in a parenting class, and both now meet regularly with a psychologist.

Twenty-seven youths participated last year and 18 youths have been paired with police officers and other workers at the Wilshire station this year. All of the students had received several suspensions before enrolling in the program.

The decreasing number of students in the program represents a changing atmosphere around the Mid-City school, where youths no longer act out as often in class.

Principal Anna McClinn said she started the program to help youths like Tamel, who frequently got into trouble at school. McClinn was afraid that as the students’ personal records became littered with suspensions while they were very young, they would be headed for failure. She was also concerned about a rising tide of violence and crime in and around Marvin.

Prostitution and drug dealing were common in front of the school, gang members routinely fired guns in the area and the campus was covered with graffiti. Two years ago, a woman was found dead on the school steps and children had to be herded into the auditorium so they would not see the body.

McClinn regularly called for “pancake drills” in which students would drop to the floor and crawl toward the hallways when they heard gunfire.

Now, as part of HOPES, Wilshire Division officers not only serve as mentors in their free time but also run a 24-hour stop-in center next door to the school where children and parents can show up at any time to get help.

This year the officers also started a cadet program. About 100 students signed up to become “officers” in the first program of its kind in a Los Angeles elementary school, McClinn said. The youths wear a uniform similar to the LAPD’s and carry a citation book to write tickets for students who break the rules, such as running in the hall or leaving class without a pass.

Many of the troubled children who were in need of mentors last year are cadets now. The program also has a mock court run by the children in which they serve as judge and jury and dispense justice. The cited students can even bring their own “attorneys” for representation.

McClinn said she believes that the court and the cadet program will teach children about right and wrong and why people must follow the rules. “Our youngsters need to have a sense of morals,” she said.

Wilshire police recognized the severity of the community’s problem and worked with McClinn to form the program and establish the stop-in center. Their goal was not only to combat crime, but also to help youths who get in trouble at school to change their behavior.

“This is possible all over the city,” said Capt. John Mutz, who overseas the Wilshire Division.

Officer Corina Draper said the HOPES program and the stop-in center are ways for the community and the police to interact in a less imposing atmosphere than the station house. Police presence has reduced crime in the area, McClinn said, noting that she has not had to call the police for seven months.

The blocks surrounding the school are relatively free of suspicious activity and the campus is graffiti-free. The number of children getting multiple suspensions has declined. Even Tamel has yet to visit the principal’s office--except to receive a ribbon congratulating him for being a good student.

Parents at Marvin say they are becoming more involved in their children’s education. Tamel’s grandmother, Forrest Ney, said there is now a place to go with questions and to talk to other parents in similar situations. She said that by talking to others, she realized that she is “not the only one with problems.”

Students and their families are not the only ones to have noticed the change at Marvin. Officers feel they are making a difference. They volunteer to meet with students at least an hour a week and take them on field trips at least once a month.

The police say they can see a change in student behavior when someone becomes their mentor. It’s a hopeful sign, said Officer Bernard Barber, because “if we don’t touch the kids at this age, they’re gone.”

Also, Barber noted, it gives youths a chance to encounter police officers as friends. Said Draper: “We’re here to help them, we’re not always bad guys.”