Working towards positive police interactions: A Q&A with Police Athletic League Executive Director Frederick Watts

Police Athletic League Executive Director Frederick Watts is pretty certain he’s been illegally stopped by the cops. And he would know: He earned a law degree from Columbia Law School and spent more than 30 years working in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. But creating positive interactions with officers has been a primary goal of the Police Athletic League since it was founded in 1914. As the nation grapples with video footage of black men being fatally shot by the police, demonstrations in the streets and retaliatory violence against officers, Watts joined New York Nonprofit Media for a conversation about PAL and its work to improve police-community relations.

NYN: Within your programming, where do the actual police-child interactions happen?

FW: There are two types of interactions: one are defined police-child programs, and then there’s the more informal. Probably the biggest one that touches the most children are our “Cops and Kids” sports programs. Those are programs where, for older kids, the police actually play on the same team with teenagers; and for the younger kids, the police officers coach the kids. The great part about that is the kids really get to know the police officers as mentors or coaches or sometimes as teammates, and that communication is really valuable. In addition, we have centers throughout the five boroughs. We try to connect. We get every commanding officer in the precincts where those centers are and every PAL center director – and they come for breakfast. The PAL employee sits at the table with the police officer responsible for that geography, and the beauty of that is they can interact casually and sort of build and reinforce the informal part of our interactions.

NYN: Bearing those interactions in mind, we’re having this conversation at a time when police-community relationships across the country are very tense. What adjustments has your organization made?

FW: You will either view this as a great answer or a terrible answer. I don’t think we’ve had to adjust very much because the foundation was in place. Take me, for instance – and again, I’m an adult and I have different life experiences. My father was a police officer. I worked with police officers for 30 years at the DA’s office. When those charged events happened, I had a context. I understood how awful those events were but also what they were in the context of human police officers and human citizens that found themselves in these tragic circumstances. Context is everything. Knowledge is everything. The teenagers are going to ask questions. I understand. But I think we’re responding – trying to give them the context – based on experiences we’ve been giving them for years, namely: You have anger, you have fears, but put it in the context of this police officer, the one you know, the one that came to our center and helped us do certain things.

In the end, to me it’s simple: the first encounter you have with a police officer should be a positive one. If you can have that, the context for other interactions will be different.

NYN: Many African-American parents have “the talk” with their children about how you should carry yourself during an interaction with a police officer. What would you advise a parent to say in that talk to help encourage that first interaction with a cop to be a positive one?

FW: As an African-American myself, I had that conversation with my parents, and I’ve had that conversation with my children. Some take that as a negative statement about the police. I don’t think so at all. I think it’s a reality of human interaction. The same way you call people Mr. or Ms. because you’re showing them respect, the same way you say, “Good morning,” before you do certain things – out of respect – you should do the same with a police officer out of some regard for their authority. To me, not because you have to, not because you owe it to them. It’s just good human interaction.

There are two considerations: One is getting through this moment, and two is your larger feelings about policing or community. The most important is that first moment. So to me, you have to counsel your kids that the goal is to show someone respect and to leave that interaction with him having a regard for you and you having a respect for him. The second part of that interaction – whether you should have been stopped, or why they pulled me over, why they asked to look in my backpack – you have that conversation someplace else. That to me is an important and real conversation – but not to be had on the street with a police officer.

NYN: Have your staff felt any discomfort lately while representing the Police Athletic League?

FW: We have a young staff, largely people of color, largely New York City residents who are dealing with the day-to-day of interacting with not only the police but with other institutions as well. The staff is proud of the work we do. They’re very committed to the kids. I just think people are proud enough of the work that some of the tricks about, “I’m a young person who could be stopped myself,” I think is overridden by the pride they have for the work they do.

I mean, I was once stopped. I’ve been stopped more than once. I have a law degree – I’m pretty sure I was stopped illegally. At the end of the day, with context, and a belief that I’m still proud of the work I did as a prosecutor, I’m proud of my father who was a police officer in Harlem for 20 years – I can balance. I think as we get older, we can balance the problems with our interactions with our overall feeling about ourselves and the work we do … but it’s hard.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity. Listen to the full podcast at nynmedia.com.