Police, residents unite to support Brewer youth

BREWER – Instead of pursuing drug dealers and violent criminals, Brewer police are spending most of their time dealing with bored kids.

About a third of the calls for police service in 2002 were juvenile-related, according to Brewer police Sgt. Chris Martin.

That is an improvement over recent years, when violent crime and drugs posed the biggest problem for Brewer police in public housing communities, he said.

“Over the past three years, the problems have changed,” Martin said. “These kids have time with nothing structured to do. But if the biggest problem we have is with kids, we’re doing very well.”

In response to the growing problem, public housing residents have teamed up with police and the Brewer Housing Authority to establish summer and after-school sports programs for youth.

The six-member Brewer Resident Council is holding a fund-raiser to pay for the programs, as budget restraints prevent local or state funds from being used for the effort, according to council Vice Chairman Mary Henderson.

“Right now we’re trying to raise $2,000, but we’ll take anything,” Henderson said, including sports equipment and other materials.

Volunteers formed the council in January 2000 to assist the Brewer Housing Authority in identifying and addressing problems in public housing neighborhoods. A survey distributed by the council in April revealed the primary concern among residents was unsupervised children, Henderson said.

Research by Brewer police confirmed that youths in these communities were involved in most of their complaints and sparked the collaboration between police, residents and the housing authority, said Martin, who serves as a liaison officer to the housing authority and resident council.

“It ends up being a quality of life issue, because it’s like a fishbowl with these people living so close together,” Martin said.

Name-calling at bus stops, throwing snowballs at passing cars, and ringing doorbells and running away are among recent complaints, he said.

The group hopes to raise funds for a tae kwon do class, sports equipment and a recreational facility.

“All the kids are excited about this,” Henderson said. “They want this so bad. There’s a lot of people who don’t know what these kids go though in these housing areas.”

The Brewer Housing Authority will set up and manage an account for the donations, and also will pay for a small storage building and fence for a basketball court, according to Executive Director Dorothy Igoe.

For information about the Resident Council or to make a donation, contact Mary Henderson at 989-5929.