Personal Stories
Officer Kristina Stichter
The mother of one of our very active PAL kids called me the day of a field trip and asked me if I could talk to her son about stealing. She was very concerned because he had been stealing money out of her purse for toys and candy. The mother was almost in tears as she was worried her son would eventually start stealing more serious items.
That day I had a chance to pull her 7 year old son to the side and have a conversation with him. Because of all the field trips we’d been on together, he had gotten to know me and respected me. He listened as I told him of the disappointment he had caused his mother and how she was truly in fear that his future would involve more crimes. I told him how much I cared about him and didn’t want to see him end up in a juvenile detention center later on. He stated he would apologize to his mom and that he wouldn’t take any money without first asking.
I followed up with his mother the next time I saw her and she let me know how appreciative she was that I talked to her son. She also mentioned that there had been no taking of money without her permission, so she was very pleased.
Officer Marcus Benner
While conducting a baseball practice in the Jordan neighborhood, two young men (brothers ages 10 and 11) rode up on their bicycles and watched. I walked over to them and asked if they wanted to play. They dropped their bikes, walked over to the PAL van, received two brand new baseball gloves and started to practice.
In the weeks that ensued, they became my star “pupils” of the game and our program. Not because of athletic ability, but because of their enthusiasm and desire to be part of a team. They were always the first to arrive and the last to leave. They would do anything that I asked as long as it was keeping them busy. They wore their “Police Activities League” shirts and hats proudly around school and the Jordan neighborhood. The kids in their school would make fun of them because they wore their Police clothing a little too much.
Midway through the season, on an early Saturday morning, the two brothers were no where to be found and the van was ready to leave for a game. This was not like them. Therefore, I drove the rest of the team to the brothers’ house. I then walked straight into their house, directly to their bedroom, woke them up and kindly reminded them of the game we were about to be late for. They slowly got on their uniforms and got in the van. They were eerily quiet that day and also for the following week. However, shortly after, things were back to normal and they were their usual hyperactive selves again.
That year we had a very good season and came short of winning our conference. Towards the end of the season during one of our many late night gourmet dinners at the Burger King located on Lowry and Washington, the youngest brother stated that he wanted to tell me something. He asked if I remembered the day that I got him out of bed when he and his brother over slept. I replied “yep”. He said, “Me and my brother didn’t really oversleep. We were gonna’ quit and weren’t gonna’ play anymore”. I told him “I know... and I wasn’t going to let you quit”. I then asked him why he would ever think about quitting. He then told me that his oldest brother (they live in a household with 11 siblings) got arrested the night before the game and that the police beat up his brother. Their family then didn’t want anything to do with the police. I asked the both of them what they thought about the police now. They said that they liked hanging out with me. Their mom works all the time and had two less kids to worry about when she knew they were doing something with PAL and Officer Benner.
The oldest brother’s story about being beat up by the police got less and less believable each time they heard the story. That brother (15 years old at the time) also asked me to help him find a job months later just so he could help out his mom. That entire family has helped me on several occasions since then. Whether it was for PAL events and I needed a crowd of responsible kids or even sheet rocking my house. I am grateful for the relationship that I have built. I also wonder what attitude they would have had towards the police if I had let them quit that day. I wonder how many more attitudes could change as long as we keep trying.
