By Carol McIntire
Editor
May 6,2008

Students from Carrollton and Brown Local Schools use teamwork and communication to complete an exercise.

Often times, when juveniles meet law enforcement officials, it is not under the best of circumstances. Often times the officers appear domineering and distant in their official dress and more often than not, the juveniles are facing some sort of problem.

A program conducted Monday by the Ohio Police Juvenile OfficersAssociation (OPJOA) at the FFA Camp Muskingum aimed to change all that.

Members of the OPJOA board of directors met and interacted with students involved with the Student Support Program at Carrollton and Brown Local Schools in a program that involved the low ropes course at the camp.

Eighteen students were teamed with OPJOA officials and broken down into three groups. Each group learned skills associated with teamwork, communication and problem solving under the guidance of FFA staff members.

"The goal of the day was to help kids at risk learn to place trust in law enforcement officials and let them know they can turn to us in tough times,” said Scott Alexander, OPJOA president. It’s not often kids get to interact with officers who are dressed in shorts and t-shirts on a course that is aimed at building trust and teamwork,” he said.

Anderson said the program is a community service project conducted in association with the group’s annual conference. The conference is being held this week at Atwood Lake Resort and Conference Center.

Each year we do a community service project,” he explained. Last year we painted at a halfway house for runaways. This is the first time we’ve done this type of project. "It allows us to interact with kids and is a great experience.”

The Student Support Services of Community Mental Healthcare is a program designed to help children at risk build developmental assets to learn life skills to help them become successful in school and beyond. It is funded in collaboration with Carroll County Department of Job and Family Services, Carrollton and Brown Local schools, Ohio Department of Mental Health and local contributors.

Anderson said the conference continues through the end of the week at Atwood. Carrollton Police Officer Bob Ellington joined the association during the conference. Alexander, who is a sex abuse investigator for the Columbus Police Department working out of the Advocacy Department at Children’s Hospital,  said approximately 50 members are attending the conference.

The OPJOA was founded in 1961 with the goal of bringing together officers throughout the state of Ohio to improve the techniques of handling and counseling youths involved in law violations and the parents of such youths. The statewide organization was to be the means of fostering study and exchanging of ideas and methods used in dealing with youth offenders. Over the years the OPJOA has become open to persons interested in the field of handling youth and who subscribe to the purposes and objectives of the organization.

Anderson said if a local organization such as DJFS has a problem with a case, they can contact the organization for assistance. Attendees are also presented with a resource guide that can be used as a networking tool for assistance with cases.