Hello Lauderhill Family!

The word “protect” is defined as “the act of covering or shielding from exposure, injury, damage, or destruction.” Although our oath holds us accountable to enforcing laws, safeguarding property, and arresting criminals, our efforts go beyond that. Each and every day, the Lauderhill Police Department (LPD) strives to live up to our department motto, “Protecting Our Community” in a way that continually assures you. Defined, “protect” sounds pretty straightforward. But when you think about it, to carry it out requires so much more.

One of the most important things that we protect is our future. Namely, our children.

The LPD is heavily invested in our community through various programs and events that we either host or participate in throughout our City. So, one of the ways that we protect our children is through our Police Mentoring Program. We have partnered with Parkway Middle School, where several of our police officers (myself included) and civilian staff are mentors to students at the school. Now, this isn’t a one-time event. On the contrary, it is an ongoing program where officers are paired with students that may not have a steady, reliable, positive adult role model in their lives. The time that your officers and staff dedicate to their mentees allows them to have valuable one-on-one interaction with someone who is completely focused on them, their needs, and provides a sense of direction from the perspective of a friend.

Mentoring provides a great opportunity to reach out and positively guide our children with making good choices at school and in their lives. Research shows that children who are involved in mentoring programs are 52% less likely to skip school, 46% less likely to start using drugs, 33% less likely to engage in violent behavior, and 27% less likely to start drinking.

The main goal of the Lauderhill Police Mentoring Program is to reduce the amount of potential, negative interactions our children may have with the police department and other authority figures, while also improving communication between our police officers and our community. It is said time and again that it takes a village to raise a child. Understandably, it takes all of us to make that impact. I want to commend everyone, everywhere, who takes the time out of their busy lives to help guide and mentor our children, our future.

So, this is just another brief example of how we, the LPD, “protects” our community!

Until next time…

Yours in service

Chief Constance Stanley