How do you ensure best outcomes for youth interacting with law enforcement?

Now, more than ever, we see the consequences of bad interactions between police and the communities they serve. When encounters between police and youth go wrong, the individuals, their communities, and all of us pay a steep and sometimes irrecoverable cost.

Something is tragically broken. At Strategies For Youth, we know there is a way to fix it.

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OUR MISSION

SFY is a national policy and training organization dedicated to ensuring best outcomes for youth interacting with law enforcement.

We achieve our mission by:
providing developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, racially equitable training for law enforcement; teaching youth how to navigate interactions with law enforcement officers; and conducting original research to raise the profile of this issue.
 

Model Policies for Interactions with Youth

Strategies for Youth has created 12 Model Law Enforcement Policies for Youth Interaction which provide law enforcement agencies and officers with guidance on how to interact with youth in developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, equitable ways that comply with the law.

Teaching Youth About Trauma using the Jeopardy game

Know Your Triggers: Understanding and Managing Trauma is an interactive, internet-based game for youth ages 12-18. The game is modeled after SFY’s successful Juvenile Justice Jeopardy™ game. SFY trains agencies with trauma-informed and trauma-responsive social workers and other mental health providers how to lead the game for groups of youth. See how you can bring the game to your agency.

SFY By the Numbers

(since 2015)

1

# of States 
SFY Programs
Have Been Offered

1

# of Reports
Authored by SFY

1

# of Resource Guides
Authored by SFY

1

# of Officers
Trained to be Trainers

1

# of JJJ Game
Leaders Trained

1 K

# of Officers Trained

1 K

# of Youth Playing
JJJ with SFY

A Lack of Training

Policing kids is hard. There’s scientific reason for that: kids’ brains aren’t developed (and won’t be until they are in their mid-20s) so they act more impulsively, take risks, and often make bad decisions. But training for encounters with youth amounts to 1% or less of the total training officers receive.

And schools don’t teach children how to interact with law enforcement, and even well-meaning advice isn’t always the right advice.

Real Consequences

When contentious interactions occur between cops and kids, when there are racial disparities in policing, law enforcement’s relationship with the community is severely damaged and hard to heal, making police work more difficult.

Once involved with the juvenile justice system, a young person’s future is at stake: their risks skyrocket for dropping out of school, substance dependency, homelessness, early pregnancy, and criminal behavior as an adult.

The Solution

In communities where Strategies for Youth has worked, we’ve seen that developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and racially equitable training for youth and and law enforcement officers and agencies can lead to up to a 84% decline in juvenile arrests.

Training For Youth

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Strategies For Youth provides trainings for youth to learn about the law, the behaviors and actions that put them at legal risk, and the consequences of engaging in risky behavior. We help build their confidence and set the groundwork for positive interactions with police.

Training For Law Enforcement

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Strategies For Youth advocates for law enforcement officers and agencies and we teach officers how the adolescent brain works, how young people feel and make decisions, how trauma affects kids’ behaviors, and how to deescalate encounters with youth.

What Participants Say About our training programs

What OFFICERS Say About PTB training

Support Our Efforts

Strategies For Youth interventions provide practical and safe approaches that save lives, families, and money. Your support helps to make that happen.

Endorsements

Lafayette (IN) Police Department

“Policing the Teen Brain has been the best training that I’ve been to for a long time. It has not only been put to use at work, it’s been invaluable when dealing with my own kids.” I have heard this from almost all of the Lafayette Police Officers that have gone through Policing the Teen Brain [training].”

Kurt Wolf, Captain

Tippecanoe County (IN) Youth Services

“In Tippecanoe County, Indiana, we have witnessed a 31.7% decrease in total resisting law enforcement, disorderly conduct and battery against law enforcement charges from 2013 to 2015. The only thing that has changed during this time frame was the implementation of Policing the Teen Brain and Juvenile Justice Jeopardy in our community. These strategies impact how law enforcement approaches youth (Policing the Teen Brain) and how youth approach law enforcement (Juvenile Justice Jeopardy).”

Rebecca Humphrey, Youth Services Executive Director and Tippecanoe County JDAI/DMC Coordinator

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department

“Two Indianapolis businessmen provided funding to replicate Juvenile Justice Jeopardy. They recognized that this game does what schools use to do, and then some. Our youth are rarely taught how to interact with police officers. This game, by simply teaching them how to behave and warning of consequences associated with their behavior, has been helpful in changing young people’s views of police interaction. This game has truly proven to be a Godsend for us.”

Read Full Endorsement Letter »

— Richard A. Hite, Chief of Police

Los Angeles Police Department

“In addition to training officers, SFY’s approach connects officers with community based organizations that serve the youth. This makes officers realize there are alternatives to arrest and there are places in even most challenged communities that are safe havens for youth. When community leaders and police offer talk sense together with some of our city’s most vulnerable youth, the outcomes for public safety improve dramatically.”

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— Charlie Beck, Chief of Police

— Robert F. Green, Deputy Chief Commanding Officer, Operations-South Bureau

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