Fort Lauderdale Police Department partners with Boys and Girls Club of Broward County (Nan Knox Unit)

Fort Lauderdale Police Department partners with Boys and Girls Club of Broward County (Nan Knox Unit)

By Eric L Wright, Jr.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is excited to mentor the Boys and Girls Club of Broward County’s teens at the Nan Knox Unit, located at 832 N.W. Second St., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Fort Lauderdale Black Police Officers Association partnered with the Nan Knox Unit after the directors reached out to law enforcements to help educate their teens on different challenges being faced throughout the Black community.

A Teen Summit will be held at Stranahan High School on July 16 2016, 1800 S.W. Fifth Pl. in Fort Lauderdale, hosted by the Fort Lauderdale Black Police Officers Association. Teenagers will be involved in seminars and workshops focused on life skills, social media, etiquette, and interact-ion with police. There will be breakfast and lunch served to all participants.

It is the hope of the Fort Lauderdale Black Police Officers Association that the youth who choose to take ad-vantage of this marvelous opportunity will leave with valuable skills and information. I believe that the lessons learned during the Teen Summit will give participants the knowledge and confidence to make sound decisions throughout their lives and whenever confronted by law enforcement. Sargent Nelson thought that this would be a marvelous opportunity for officers to volunteer their time to visit the Nan Knox Unit with the goal of developing relationships with the teenagers in the community.

The Nan Knox Unit felt that the outreach of our local police department will give our teens the chance to take part in open and honest conversations about topics such as: substance abuse, girls growing into women, boys growing into men, and police interaction.

Relationships with club members have been developed with the help from Sargent I. Nelson along with supporting officers: N. Justice, J. Brown, P. Brown, C. Livingston, T. Stevens, F. Gordon, R. Motos, and J. Alexander.

The Fort Lauderdale Black Police Officers Association con-ducts weekly visits at the Nan Knox Unit every Wednesday and Friday. With each visit the officers host two sessions that generally last an hour with both teenage girls and boys. The teenagers are separated from the other club members where they can have a quite informative discussion on simple topics like hygiene, bullying, drug awareness, violence, and interaction with law enforcement, life lessons, and the Bill of Right. The officers answer questions but most importantly they are there to educate our teens. The sessions have helped teens at the Boys and Girls Club of Broward County, Nan Knox Unit, develop their own perception of law enforcement here in the City of Fort Lauderdale.