‘Tip-a-Cop’ Event to Aid Youth Program

To raise money for its anti-gang program for youths, officers and detectives from LAPD’s Foothill Division will be waiting tables today at a Sun Valley restaurant.

The “Tip-a-Cop” event, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Acapulco Restaurant and Cantina, 8431 Sunland Blvd., will benefit Foothill’s Jeopardy program through donations given to LAPD wait staff as tips.

“These are off-duty officers volunteering their time for this program,” said Vicki Boss Edwards, director of Foothill’s Jeopardy Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports the local program.

The restaurant event is the first of its kind for Foothill.

It will help fund the local program with an annual budget of more than $300,000, most of which is raised through charity events and government grants, Edwards said.

Jeopardy, a citywide program that targets high-risk youth between the ages of 9 and 17, offers mentoring, recreational after-school activities such as sports, family counseling, remedial education--such as one-on-one tutoring and homework assistance--and classes in parenting and anger management.

Foothill’s Jeopardy, the oldest such program in the city, was founded in 1990. It serves about 125 youths and their families each year, Edwards said.

“We have a big gang problem in the city of Los Angeles. We have a big gang problem in Foothill,” said Lt. Rick Papke of LAPD’s Foothill Division.

Intervention programs, such as Jeopardy, are important for diverting at-risk youths from lives of crime, Papke said.