Crime & Safety

Attleboro Police and Students Connect on the Court

The Attleboro Police Department has received federal dollars for an after-school program.

Attleboro students and officers from the Attleboro Police Department will have another year to play ping-pong, shoot hoops and take turns as solids and stripes. 

Thank to federal dollars from the Sen. Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative grant, students will have a place to go after school to compete in friendly games with friends and the city's men and women in blue.

The Shannon CSI is a $4.5 million state grant program that is overseen by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) to support approaches to compact gang violence in some communities and to provide prevention programs through out-of-school activities in other cities. 

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For the third consecutive year, the has received the federal dollars to participate in the Attleboro Recreation Department's Attleboro Youth Center. The funds provide two things: it pays to have someone at the to check students in and out and pays to send over policemen to the center to interact with kids. 

"It's to target those at-risk kids," said Acting Attleboro Police Chief Kyle Heagney about the program.

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The kids who participate in Attleboro's program are mostly from the city's east side, according to Attleboro Recreation Director Dennis Walsh.

"It is a great benefit for the kids," Walsh said. "They get to know the policemen in a different light and to see that they are not the bad guy."

"I've seen some really positive relationships that have formed from it," Walsh added. 

The program is for children ages 8 through 17 who are currently in school. It generally runs from Monday through Thursday 3 to 5 p.m. and Friday 6 to 9 p.m. 

Students can go every day, or once a week, according to Walsh.

"We average between 30 and 40 kids a day, but we always have sufficient staffing for all of the kids," he said. "Some kids are on our doorstep before it opens."

Along with shooting pool and playing ball, students can also use the center's the computer lab. The computers are censored so that students cannot login to YouTube to watch videos or Facebook to use the social network.

The first day of October will begin the Monday through Thursday schedule and the first day of December will be the start to the Friday schedule, according to Walsh.

"Past experience has shown that students want to stay outside while it's still warm," Walsh said.


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