Join us as we congratulate Officer Jeanine Brudenell as the 2011 Special Operations Division Officer of the Year.  As a result of Officer Brudenell’s dedication, particular with building bridges with the Somali community and being extremely active with the Police Activities League, she was bestowed this award.

Officer Brudenell began her career with the Minneapolis Police Department in 1994. Since that time she has had a number of assignments including the First Precinct, Organized Crime Unit and the Intelligence Sharing Analysis Center.  She is currently assigned to the Community Engagement Team.

Lieutenant Donald Harris, Emergency Preparedness Unit Supervisor, said in reference to her work with the East African community that her approach is on the cutting edge in the law enforcement community and that all citizens in the City of Minneapolis are fortunate to have her wearing the uniform of the Minneapolis Police Department.

The PIO contact for this release is Sergeant Steve McCarty. For a list of Officer Brudenell's accomplishments, click here.

Join Mineapolis PAL and the rest of the Police Department Special Operations Center for a fun run on May 19! Preregister at active.com until May 16 for $15. Day-of-race registration is $20 and check in begins at 7am. Those participating in the Y'all Run 5K for licensed law enforcement (which runs concurrently with the Northside Street Race) register for $5. There will be prize money for winners in age categories starting at age 11! The race begins at 9am.

Also, at 9:30am, join the Minneapolis Police Department at their Special Operations Center (4119 Dupont Ave N) as they host an open house for the community! Free lunch, the mounted patrol, K9 demonstrations, bomb squad robots, Minneapolis PAL and much more will be part of the event!

On March 24, 2012 PAL traveled with the girl’s Junior Olympic (JO) volleyball team to the Wisconsin Dells. It was a great opportunity for the girls to end their season by competing with some of the top players in the region. The team was chaperoned by Officers Blake Moua, Leila Kasso, Kou Vang, and Alice White.  The two volleyball teams consisted of 12 girls and two head coaches.

The first game of the tournament started at 0800 hours. Both teams played a total of 4 games. The girls all showed great sportsmanship and did well as a team. Although the girls did not make it to the finals they motivated each other throughout tournament play never giving up. It was a long, hot day with tournament play ending at 1930 hours. After the tournament, the girls cooled off at the Chula Vista Waterpark.

On March 25, 2012 it was the day to pack up head back to Minnesota. On that morning, Coach Javon said farewell to the players and PAL since he was leaving for Illinois to begin his training with the Navy. PAL was grateful to have him start off as an assistant coach and to watch him develop into a very good head coach.  Javon, Thank you for serving our country! On the way back, we stopped in downtown Wisconsin Dells, where everyone got a chance to walk around and look for some gifts/souvenirs to bring back home.

March Mania was a great event. It surely was a great experience to see all the top competitors from Minnesota and Wisconsin competing at the very top of their game. In addition to that, everyone had a great time and PAL received some really good feedback from parents and players for giving their children an opportunity to play away from home and have a good time.

The Minneapolis Police Activities League hosted the PAL Raiders Basketball Banquet at Broadway Pizza on March 10, 2012. 25 children and family members came to celebrate another successful season of basketball for the 11 and under division. As you can see by the smiles on the children’s’ faces, it was a good time for all. A job well done to head Coach Muhammad and the children of the PAL Raiders Basketball Team!

Minneapolis PAL is looking for soccer coaches with experience! If you or someone you know are interested, call officer Blake Moua at 612-673-2121.

March 19-23, 2012 is National Youth Violence Prevention Week.

Each year communities all around the country come together to prevent youth violence. National Youth Violence Prevention Week is an opportunity to raise community awareness about the problem of youth violence and to create opportunities to work together to address it.

The mission of Minneapolis PAL is to reduce juvenile crime and violence by using police officers and community mentors to provide positive activities for youth.  At PAL we believe that when they are given an opportunity kids will choose positive character building activities to spend their time rather than hanging out on the streets committing crimes or being victims of crime.

We've added a link of resources for those seeking more information on preventing youth violence and bullying to the menu at the right.