Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and the Police Athletic league is launching the new Critical Conversation Initiative. The first session is this week. Nekia Kemp, the executive director of PAL joined us on AM Buffalo to tell us more about this initiative.
There are four cities, Detroit, Buffalo, Memphis and Houston that part of this program. Nekia says, I’m excited that Buffalo is technically the first city to launch after Detroit. They launched this in 2020 so Detroit Pal and their police department launched this in 2020 during a time when there was a lot of social unrest, during the George Floyd incident and so this was a great opportunity to be able to be the first city launched and be able to do it in person. There is something to say about not doing it over Zoom so we get up close sand personal between these teenagers and law enforcement.”
They are going to discuss a lot of topics. The first one being how do you feel about law enforcement, what are your feelings and thoughts, do you feel protected in your community? Nekia says this platform gives our teenagers, our youth an opportunity, where they never had an opportunity to have their voices heard on this level.
It is for grades nine through twelve and they are starting at East high school and the goal is to add additional high schools throughout the school year. She says that way we have the perspective of every inch of the City of Buffalo. Nekia says, “We really want to be able to use this information to inform and make decisions in our police department when it comes to community policing.”
What is the NET unit? It is the Neighborhood Engagement Team and is a special unit under the Buffalo Police Department and they focus on community policing. PAL works heavily with them throughout the year. The NET unit works with PAL and they come out and play community kickball games, volleyball games, they come out as flag football coaches. Nekia says “We’ve had the opportunity to build a really nice relationship. They also work with the Peacemakers, block clubs and other organizations for a really strong connection to the community.”
This is one of many programs offered by the PAL. For more information go to Buffalopal.com
