Cleaning up Tampa's Police Athletic League is a worthy goal. The group exists to give troubled kids a chance to interact with positive role models, but it has been a model itself of what you don't want to see in a charity. PAL's history of weak management and poor spending controls are now the subject of a police investigation. The inquiry should prompt a broader discussion of whether PAL serves a purpose at all.
PAL chapters exist in cities nationwide. The idea is for police officers to use the team-building environment of sports and recreation to help children embark on productive lives. The program also exposes children to police officers at their helpful best, which PAL hopes will foster lifelong respect for police and the law. These positive images and relationships are credited for being particularly helpful in minority neighborhoods, where people often complain of being harassed by police.
But is PAL Tampa's best way to involve the police in mentoring work? The city's police chief, Steve Hogue, has asked his department's internal affairs unit to examine PAL's finances. While the group is a nonprofit, the city pays the salaries of several officers who work there. PAL's ties to the department also give it an air of credibility that's important to private donors.
Hogue has removed all active-duty officers from PAL's governing board, and the group's new president is moving forward with reforms that would professionalize the office and make the group more accountable. But with so many larger charities doing similar work in town, does it make sense to have a stand-alone PAL, or should those efforts be combined with a more established organization? Could the officers be as effective volunteering their time to Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Boys & Girls Clubs, the YMCA or other major groups that already have the luxury to draw on a wider range of management and fundraising resources? It may be time for PAL to follow its advice to be a team player, if the group could better serve the community by leaving the bookkeeping to someone else.
