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WHY THIS PROGRAM?

The Law Enforcement, Education and Technology Summer Computer Camp for Youth was begun as a pilot program to advance the community policing endeavors of the Rhode Island Minority Police Association.

Over the years, numerous programs, such as D.A.R.E., P.A.L., the "Officer Friendly Basketball Camps" in Bridgeport, CT, and others, have sought to involve neighborhood youth in summer sports programs for the purpose of providing an outlet for their energies, summer activities during the school vacation period, and to embrace the issues of police-community interaction. 

Yet, while these programs provide incentives to alleviate youth violence, and do in fact build self-esteem, they contribute to the fallacy that the BEST way out of the ghetto is through sports. They, as well, at times neglect one of the fundamental issues facing minority youth - failures in the educational process. And a portion of those failures is due to the lack of access to the technology which will ultimately assist them in reaching their goals for success. The "Digital Divide" is alive, well, and quite active in the minority community.

It is with this concept that this camp was established. To provide minority youth with greater exposure to the technology of today and the future; provide them with a better understanding of the process by which they must use to fully succeed in their life-goals; and to promote active, positive and meaningful relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

After more than three years of operation, the criteria for the camp are as follows:

• Students are required to complete a formal application
• They are required to have a parent or guardian sign, permitting them to attend
• They are required to have the sponsoring signature of a minority law enforcement officer
• They were required to physically reside in one of several specific target areas

Students are interviewed at both the beginning and end of the camp process to determine their attitudes towards law enforcement, knowledge and use of computers, and frequency of use of the internet.

Speakers from various areas of law enforcement, education and technology firms are invited to both attend and share their experiences.