The Boston Strategy > Players > Police

	Mayor
	Police Commissioner Paul Evans Supt. in Chief, Ret. Faherty Supt. Paul Joyce Lt. Det. Gary French Sgt. Robert Merner Det. Tito Whittington Ptl. Mark Buchanan Ptl. Greg Brown
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Det. Tito Whittington
Boston School Police

It was tough. Real tough. I was talking to the kids earlier. I'd be talking to a kid in the morning and helping to put his body in the ambulance at night, knowing he probably wasn't going to make it. I'd go to too many funerals where the rival gang would be there and we'd have to be on the alert for retaliation. And that's when a lot of us started to get together. We got together and we said "We've got to do something else." So we started to communicate. "How are we going to help these kids? What are we going to do?"

It was kind of like a growth, an internal, personal growth, a maturity coming about and saying "Hey, what about the good kids? Who cares about them? Who cares about the 'in-between' kids? Who cares about them?" These other kids, maybe three or four percent that we were locking up every day, they were influencing these others. If we get rid of them, now we can start to do things. So now we were faced with the obvious "What are we going to do with the other kids?" We asked them "What do you need?" "Jobs." So we started talking to private industry, the Private Industry Council was formed. We got together a jobs program with John Hancock, called "Summer of Opportunity." Radio stations got together and did a "Kids at Risk" program with Don Law. And these partnerships started to be formed.

Every time we got out of the car, we wouldn't just say "Everybody up against the wall." We'd jump out of the car and say "Hey, how's it going Joe? Hey, Hi Sam, how you doing? How you making out in school? How's the job you got?" And then we'd get in the car and drive off. So they wouldn't know whether we were coming to say "Up against the wall" or shoot the breeze with them. So it was kind of a respectful tactic that we did.

Reach out. Know that the job has to be a little bit more well rounded. Talk to that kid respectfully. Treat him very well. Go the extra mile to say to the District Attorney or Probation "Hey, this kid's not that bad. Give him a shake." And let that kid know "Hey, I believe in you. I have faith in you."

Now we feel a little more heartened. True believers in this type of philosophy, the other police officers, joined together. And it made a difference. And when the community saw this, it reflected back to them and it empowered them. Businesses saw this. It made good business sense. It reflected well on them. The clergy saw this. And so it made good sense for everybody to get together. It just blossomed from there.