Melrose Community Policing Project a Win for Citizens and the City

This summer I embarked on a project to strengthen the relationship between the City of Roanoke, the Police Department, and most importantly the community. The results far exceeded my expectations.

Before I talk about the results, let’s take a look back to the spring. I was invited to a community discussion to form a summer basketball league. I want to thank Mr. James Lynch for serving as the Basketball Coordinator for the subsequently formed summer basketball league, Roanoke Police Officer Joshua Johnson, and numerous citizens who had the desire to serve the community and offered me the opportunity to become involved. From those discussions we decided to move forward with the Lea Youth Outdoor Basketball League (LYOB) with the following objectives:

1. To have a summer basketball league for youth boys and girls ages 11 – 18.

2. To partner with the Roanoke Police Department by having officers coach, referee, operate the time clock, and participate in other duties.

3. Offer a “quality moment” each week where a speaker from the community talked about life choices, staying in school, respect, trust, and good sportsmanship

As you can see the overall mission of this basketball league was for our youth to develop a positive relationship with the police and see the importance of making life choices that will have a positive impact on their lives.

We all witnessed the unrest that played out to a national audience in Ferguson MO, Baltimore, MD, Cleveland OH and other areas in our country. As a result, I felt the urgent need to take preventive steps in our community. My premise is that it is easier to mediate and resolve any potential issues when you have established a positive relationship.

I was encouraged by the response from the community which helped us, the planning committee, exceed our goal. We anticipated participation from 75 youth in the Melrose/Rugby and Loudon/Melrose communities, however we had involvement from over 200. Games were played on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 pm the entire month of June and two weeks in July.

The involvement didn’t stop with the players. The enthusiasm and participation from the community was so great that we had to make bleachers available throughout the park, and many days those bleachers we were filled to capacity. Youth, parents, and other adults who came to witness the games stated they had never seen anything of this magnitude happen in this section of the city.

Police officers giving our youth high-fives, huddling with players to develop strategies, cheering for their respective teams, running up and down three courts in 90 degree weather working as referees, and serving as chefs for the cookouts helped enhance the relationship and further community policing efforts.

With that I want to thank our Police Department and their ongoing efforts to build positive relationships with the community, Mr. Lynch for his coordination of the basketball games, and each of the speakers who included medical doctors, former education administrators, local minority business owners, a prominent local athlete from Roanoke, an African American captain from the Roanoke Police Department, our Chief of Police, and the Athletic Department from Virginia Tech.

The event culminated in a community cook-out on the last day where the youth welcomed a former All-American and professional football player, who is now involved in Virginia Tech Athletics.

I also want to thank local sponsors who offered in-kind donations as well as financial donations, which funded major costs associated with this league. The Life Ring Foundation gave a large cash donation which paid for certified referees. The City of Roanoke Parks and Recreation Department offered the venue for the event and Roanoke City Public Schools was a major contributor as well.

As a 12 year member of Roanoke City Council and five year member of the Roanoke City School Board, I count this program as one of our greatest successes and hope to expand it to the southeast quadrant of the city next summer. I’ve spearheaded or been involved in numerous community activities to include the formation of a Domestic Violence Task Force, the Leas Winter Basketball Classic which supported local non-profit organizations, and the Western Virginia Education Classic to impact the high school dropout rate.

All of these initiatives and many others have brought me great satisfaction during my career, however the LYOB is one of my proudest moments. I believe both police and citizens enhanced their relationship with each other, and a neighborhood was inspired to come together and work with police during a time when many other communities in our country are struggling to achieve that goal.

Sherman P. Lea, Sr.
Roanoke City Council

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Latest Articles

- Advertisement -

Related Articles