There is a buzz of excitement as the players take the field at Queen Elizabeth High School in northeast Edmonton for a friendly soccer match.
The players on this warm, hazy August afternoon are Edmonton Police Service officers (EPS soccer team and tactical unit) teens and those looking to develop leadership skills from the city’s diverse Oromo, Sudanese, Eritrean, Somali, Syrian and Iraqi communities.
The game comes in the middle of the first week of the 2017 edition of the Police Youth Engagement Program, or PYEP for short.No one is too hung up about strictly following the rules. Winning is not what this game is all about. In fact, no score is kept.
The game is fun, but intense and the skill level
is obvious on both teams.
Cheering from the sidelines is Timiro Mohammed, one of the program’s four youth co-ordinators.
“It’s really nice seeing the girls playing soccer in their skirts, their hijabs, their abayas,” says Timiro. “And some of them are faster than the boys.”
PYEP’s purpose is to bring police and youth together, remove misconceptions on both sides, build trust and positive relationships and create a safe and comfortable environment. It is also a recruiting tool for the Edmonton Police Service.
This year, the program’s fourth edition brought together 34 teens and eight youth leaders. It is planned and organized through partnerships with the police, REACH Edmonton, and community leaders.
In addition to the EPS and REACH Edmonton, other stakeholders with a big investment in PYEP include cultural community leaders, teens’
parents, the Edmonton Public School Board, the Mennonite Centre for Newcomers, the Multicultural Health Brokers Co-operative, the City of Edmonton (Citizen Services), The Family Centre and the Edmonton Police Foundation.
Along with the soccer match, the teens visited the northeast division police station and police
headquarters. They got an introduction to policing and potential career pathways, sat in police cruisers and vans, walked the beat along Alberta Avenue, hung out with members of the tactical team, ran the obstacle course all recruits must pass and met a member of the canine unit and his dog.
This was the third year for EPS Supt. Terry Rocchio.
“PYEP is not something that I have to be involved with, but something that I want to be involved in! Over the years I have been impressed with the community leaders who have moved this program forward, from a one-week program to a two-week program, where successful participants earn high school credits.
Building bridges, busting barriers
PYEP brings police, teens together
By IAN STEWART