While the Conference is not open to the public, the topics are designed to affect individual behavior which can have the “butterfly effect” which means that dynamics will interact with other dynamics and in this case cause a positive effect that our teens will radiate to the home, school and community.  We are certainly looking forward to this conference!

Brenda Ross
Youth Conference Coordinator

The TAPS students displayed posters they created signifying their experience with TAPS, a program designed to reduce the social distance between at-risk youth and law enforcement.

They also provided explanations and demonstrations of their art, many of them presenting in person for the first time.

While on campus, the TAPS students visited several campus programs/departments and learned about the everyday life of UHCL students…

Click Here to read the full article

A student's story...

The Kashmere Senior High School student pictured to the left, has been a sterling and well thought of student at Kashmere High, active in sports and high ranking in his academics.  He visited with TAPS Club on April 26 to offer the members a “cautionary tale”.  It is also a tale that should be listened to and acted upon by all youths who want to stay out of the Juvenile Justice System.

A direct quote from the student offers these words: “Watch who you are with, your ‘friends’ may get you into trouble if you are with them when they are doing wrong!”  He told the group that he has recently found himself involved in the Juvenile Justice System by being with friends who were shoplifting. He said he had to submit to a humiliating strip search and a night in a jail cell. Because this student had never been in trouble before, the Judge gave him a lenient sentence of probation; however he could have put himself in a position to ruin his life.

Again, because he had a clean record his moment of being in the wrong place at the wrong time will not follow him. The moral of this story is easy to understand, pick your friends wisely, and just in case you make a mistake in your choice and find yourself in a position of being with a “friend” who is doing wrong; WALK AWAY!  The student told his experience from a male’s perspective and Police Officer Landerverde added that a female will endure the same humiliating experience.

TAPS Conference

Excitement is in the air. The Teen And Police Services (TAPS) in conjunction with the Houston Police Department (HPD) are in the last stages of finalizing its First Annual Youth Conference. The Conference is scheduled for May 24, 2013 and will be held atBeechnutAcademywhich is the Alternative School for theHoustonIndependentSchool District. The overwhelming purpose of this conference is to educate youths in how to stay out of the Juvenile Justice System and because the session topics will be presented by members of the police department, our hope is to send a subliminal message that police officers really are interested in helping and reducing the social distance between youths and law enforcement. We atTAPSAcademyfeel that the student population at Beechnut is the perfect site for our inaugural conference as these at-risk youth can particularly benefit from our message.

The Conference is not open to the public; however its benefits will have far reaching effects as we educate our youths to change negative behaviors into positive behaviors and teach them how to become good citizens at home, at school and in the community.

 Brenda Ross – Conference Coordinator

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day

31 May 2013

Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners everywhere mark World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. Check out the site at http://www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/2013/en/ for more information and helpful hints.

 The Kashmere TAPS Club is proud to announce the election of its first officers. They are from left to right:

TAPS Clubs Officers

Jhazmin Llamas, Aaron O’Campo - Vice President (not pictured); Alex Brown – Secretary; Officer Landerverde - TAPS Clubs Mentor, Briana Matthews – President;  Clech Tsipangoyi – Parliamentarian.

TAPS Clubs

TAPS CLUB MEMBERS AT

KASHMERESENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

All members comprise the Promotional Committee. This Committee is charged with getting the TAPS message out to the entire student population.

TAPS Clubs Members

Members include: Aaron O’Campo, Alex Brown, Brenda Ventura, Briana Matthews, Clech Tsipangoyi, Diana Cano, Edward Alvarez, Edwin McKnight, Emily Estrada, Eridiana Balderas, Georgia Corbett-Stone, Jasmine Biscoe, Jhazmin Llamas, Kevin Patten, Luis Carreon, Maya Debose, Myrka Lopez, Stephanie Alvarez, Teddy Watkins, Vanessa Reyes.

Stephanie Alvarez is the Chairperson for the Promotional Committee. On the far right of this photograph is Ms Janine Jack, Co-Advisor of the Club and HPD Officer Landerverde who has been a constant mentor at the Club meetings. Ms Demetira Jones (not pictured) is the other Co-Advisors. These ladies are teachers at Kashmere and are dedicated to both their students and the success of TAPS Club. They have been phenomenal!

TAPS Clubs Officers

At Kashmere Senior High School, Officers Stubbs and Howard are always on patrol, and are also dedicated to being a part of TAPS Club in an effort to cement positive interaction between school police and the students.

The formation of TAPS Club at Kashmere Senior High School has been a wonderful success. The main focus of TAPS Club is to provide positive interaction between law enforcement officers and youths, and it is very evident that this dynamic has taken place at the Club.

One of the main aims of Alcohol Awareness Month is to promote prevention practices amongst teenagers and adolescents through education about health risks, drunk driving, addiction, coping skills, self medicating, depression, anxiety, and more.

Founded in 1987 by the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Alcohol Awareness Month aims to raise community awareness about the gravity of alcohol abuse and addiction, and to educate the public that alcoholism is a disease that does have treatment that can lead to recovery. For more information visit the site at www.timesreporter.com/news

Recognize APRIL as Distracted Driving Awareness Month

Thousands die needlessly each year because people continue to use their cell phones while driving, handheld or hands-free. Join the National Safety Council this April in urging those you care about to:

• Stop using cell phones while driving
• Understand the dangers of the cognitive distraction to the brain
• Inform people who call you while driving that you’d be happy to continue the conversation once they have reached their destination
• Tell others about the dangers of cell phone distracted driving

Gardens For Greatness Flyer

D.A. Craig Watkins

Criminology and Criminal Justice offer many career paths to be chosen.  I was delighted to learn, that the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) Conference session topics touched on many of those opportunities. Working with youth in the Teen And Police Services (TAPS) program inspired me to visit many of the sessions centering on youth delinquency, the perceived and researched reasons for the cause of this phenomenon and ways in which programs may elicit change and help to sustain that change.

In one particular session, the speaker provided insight into the escalation of youth delinquency. This speaker led a survey on youth behavior in the past as well as after the tragedy of 911. She noted that after 911, there was a positive solidarity regarding policing services. She explained that our involved society believed that the police were doing a good job, this opinion even included youth. The speaker’s survey-research noted that several years after 911 there was a decline in positive interaction between police and youth. Taken from that same survey of teens, she noted youth up to age 13 did not seem so disconnected from police, however at age 16 a real disconnect began. She is still involved in research to try to answer the question of why. According to the speaker, an increase in disconnectedness seems to appear around age 16. Perhaps due to the fact that 16 year old youth are beginning to drive and have more freedom from parents and therefore are out and about more often getting into trouble.

One session held special interest to me, meeting the famed Dallas District Attorney, Craig Watkins. D.A Watkins has impacted the lives of 10 wrongfully accused inmates by keeping them out of the execution chair in the Dallas Criminal Justice System, and has starred in a television series called Dallas DNA. Adding to my excitement in meeting him is the fact that I watched that series and was very impressed with his courage in standing up to the “Powers That Be” to bring justice to individuals who have been wrongly accused.

ACJS Group

While at the conference we meet old friends and made new ones. We went home with a wealth of new knowledge and new ideas, encouraged to find new ways of how to build programs to influence positive attitudes and behaviors among youth and other facets of our society. There was so much food for thought that can lead us, as students, to write papers and do research that could have the potential to make a difference in our world.