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###  Street Law for Police & Teens: Advancing Justice through Classroom Education Programs 

 February 2017 | Volume 10 | Issue 2

As police departments and communities  across the country strive to improve relationships and foster trust, Street  Law, Inc., a nonprofit organization, offers a new tool for working with youth: Street  Law for Police & Teens.  Designed to build positive  relationships between police and youth while empowering young people with legal  knowledge and civic skills, Street Law for Police & Teens is a program for  law enforcement officers to teach young people about law and policing. Street Law’s mission is to advance  justice through classroom and community education programs. Street Law’s  accessible, interactive programs empower students and communities to become  active, legally-astute contributors to society. All of Street Law’s programs,  including Police & Teens, are practical, relevant, and participatory,  combining legal content with innovative teaching strategies that engage young  people in the learning process. Street Law participants benefit from real life  lessons and insights, which they can use to effect positive change in their  lives.

The four-unit, 20-lesson curriculum is  easy to follow and full of interactive strategies that promote problem-solving  and critical thinking skills. Lesson topics include community safety, being a  witness, reporting crime, search and seizure, arrests, personal safety,  enforcing laws, restorative justice, bullying, and more. The Street Law  training includes interactive instruction, role-playing activities, and  demonstrations to engage students and encourage interaction with officers  during the program.          Street Law trains officers and agencies  on the implementation of Street Law for Police & Teens programs.  Law enforcement agencies can also obtain just  the lesson materials from Street Law to use as part of their own community  policing efforts. 

Street Law for Police & Teens helps young people understand the role of the officers in their community  and provides young people and officers an opportunity to build mutual trust by  talking about rights, responsibilities, and how they can work together for  safer communities. For example, a lesson on police searches in schools asks  students to take a position on a case involving the application of the Fourth  Amendment in a school setting.  

“I have served as a school resource  officer (SRO) since the inception of the SRO Program in the Baltimore County  Public Schools in 1998. Baltimore County has one of the largest SRO programs in  the country. Since 1998, SROs in our district have used the Street Law  curriculum to teach thousands of students. Its user-friendly approach to  law-related education allows SROs the ability to teach students the law, and  the importance of obeying the law, while building positive relationships with  students and community members.”          –  Officer Don Bridges, Baltimore County Police Department & NASRO President

After more than two decades of working  with school resource officers on programs to teach young people about law and  policing, in 2016 Street Law revamped and updated 20 lesson plans for law enforcement officers to use in both school and community  settings.  

Group discussions and hands-on  activities help participants explore the roles, responsibilities, and  perspectives of young people and the police officers that serve them in their  communities—for example, in a lesson on racial profiling, participants and law  enforcement collaboratively discuss the impact of racial profiling on people  and communities. The result is an open, two-way dialogue that builds awareness,  respect, empathy, and understanding. 

For more information, visit  http://www.streetlaw.org/en/publications/street_law_for_police__teens or  contact Street Law’s Program Director, Yolanda Johnson (240-821-1319;  yjohnson@streetlaw.org)

Yolanda Johnson, Program Director &  Megan Hanson, Chief Program Officer          Street Law, Inc.
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