SFY’s Model Policy #6 – Fair and Impartial Policing of Youth: Race, National Origin, and Immigration Status – is featured in the Spring 2025 Issue of Juvenile Justice Update. This policy furthers the commitment to fair and impartial enforcement of the law and the
protection of youths’ constitutional and statutory rights. It recognizes and seeks to address the longstanding disparities in law enforcement contact with communities of color.
ALBANY, N.Y. — After a string of shootings involving young people in Albany, city leaders are stressing the urgency of intervention.
Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox emphasized the need for everyone to stay engaged with youth to help prevent further violence.
“Pay attention to what’s happening with our youth,” Cox urged during a press conference on February 12th. “Help us make sure our youth are safe and don’t do something that can either get them injured or cause them to injure someone else.”
SFY’s Model Policy #8 – Policing of Youth with Disabilities, Experiencing Mental Health Crises, or Impaired by Drugs or Alcohol – is featured in the Winter 2025 Issue of Juvenile Justice Update. This policy provides a framework for recognizing indicators of disability, mental health crisis, or drug or alcohol impairment in youth and explains how these conditions may affect youth in their encounters with law enforcement. It provides guidance on the least intrusive, most effective approach in interacting with these youth, and directs officers, wherever feasible, to avoid unnecessary arrests andjuvenile legal system involvement, and to de-escalate interactions with youth.
SFY Model Policies have been recommended San Francisco Police Commission and are in the the process of being adopted by the SFPD.
SFY’s Model Policy #5–Use of Force with Youth– is featured in the Fall 2024 Issue of Juvenile Justice Update. This policy directs officers to use the least amount of physical force possible to effect a lawful law enforcement purpose, and recommends standards of use, including restricted use and prohibitions, for specific types of weapons, restraints and use of force on youth.
Three years ago, after a video of Rochester police handcuffing and pepper-spraying a schoolgirl in distress reached the public, state and local officials joined in uniform outrage, calling for immediate reforms.
“This isn’t how the police should treat anyone, let alone a 9-year-old girl,” said then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Among some of the top priorities in enhancing community policing efforts is refining community and police relations… specifically with youth.
A series of recent groundbreaking investigative reports unveiled what many advocates for police accountability have known for decades: Child sex abuse by law enforcement officials is far too common across our country. Systemic failures within policing—coupled with lax oversight by police departments, prosecutors, and judges—too often shield police officers from meaningful accountability.
SFY’s Model Policies are featured in the Summer 2024 Issue of Juvenile Justice Update. Model Polices covered in this issue focus on Miranda Warnings, Waiver of Rights, and Youth Interrogations.
Readers respond to The Post’s “Abused by the Badge” series.