Like many other communities throughout the USA, Trenton has an issue with the illegal activities of the youth. These actions are categorized as Runaways/Missing, Assaults, Weapon Offenses, Curfew Violations and others.
One could point to any number of reasons for this, some of those include a lack of services and programming due to budgetary cuts, reduction in staffing/person power, lack of financial resources in the home, mental and physical health issues, these and many more are effecting the lives of these individuals and the communities where they live.
Approximately 100 people mainly Law Enforcement, Educators and Service Program professionals were in attendance. After a brief introduction, Ayana delivered a power point presentation describing the program, organizational structure, partners and the very alarming statistics.
Speakers included Juvenile Officers Arlene Miranda and Steve Smith, Aneisha Walker and Armstead Johnson of Mercer Street Friends, Terrence Stokes of the Trenton Board of Education and Detective Sargeant Bethesda Stokes. In their own words through personal experiences, each expressed the importance for this to be addressed immediately and that a lack of focus would have drastic effects on the lives of so many youth, the communities in which they live and society as a whole.
As a person of faith I am often looking for spiritual references to help with my own understanding of a situation. I think about the body and the need for it to function as a whole. The legs without a torso are of little use likewise no oxygen means no life. In this reference discarding any youth will prove catastrophic to the structure of society here in Trenton and if that progresses then beyond the less than 7.5 sq. mi. city limits. Law Enforcement will tell you "spill over" has been happening in surrounding communities for many years, (going both ways might I add) therefore this is now a regional problem if not worse.
Details regarding the costs of the program were not discussed however in the past this has been an area of concern as documented in 2013.
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/05/trenton_officials_trying_to_ra.html
Ayana made it clear that the efforts of the current Youth Stat Administration were operating under very specific guidelines and I encourage you to contact her for the details and to answer any questions.
Ayana Abdul-Raheem
Youth Stat Coordinator
Trenton Police Department
Youth Services Division - 3rd Floor
225 North Clinton Avenue
609-989-4097
aabdulraheem@trentonpolice.net
Have listen to our brief chat after the event.
https://soundcloud.com/trenton365/ayana-abdul-raheem-youth-stat
In closing, I left with a strong sense that this is not a Law Enforcement problem, this is a societal problem and all members of society need to respond. I understand that one size doesn't and will not fit all, but we as members of society need to do our individual parts to seek out how we can build a better community.
If you would like to discuss my efforts please email me: trenton365show@gmail.com
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