The mission of the P.I.C.K. program is to provide a Police presence geared toward achieving a number of important goals: crime and violence prevention, promoting positive interactions between officers and children, and providing positive role models for local youth. The program also brings apartment residents together to increase their sense of community, identify mutual concerns, influence decisions, support one another in building and sustaining a strong community, and improve the communication and connection between apartment residents and the West Sacramento Police Department.

The program is staffed with police officers, Crime Prevention staff, and members of the Department's Volunteers In Policing Unit.

Currently the PICK program is held at the Sunset Village Apartments at 1611 Madrone Avenue. The program operates each Tuesday and Thursday from the hours of 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Benefits of P.I.C.K.

Multi-Family Residents benefit by:

• Youth programs geared towards positive interaction between youth and officers
• Increasing sense of community
• Improving quality of life
• Increasing awareness of available resources, programs and services
• Opportunities for volunteer involvement
• Developing leadership in apartment communities
• Learning about opportunities to influence City decisions

• Identifying concerns and developing solutions
• Sharing information through a quarterly newsletter and monthly meetings

• Open lines of communication established between youth, family members and Police
• Understanding residents' concerns, needs, and issues
• Identifying programs and resources to help support multi-family residents
• Police Department staff on-site

After-School Tutorial This free after-school program, which coincides with the school year, includes homework assistance and one-on-one tutoring by trained volunteers.

Conflict Resolution and Mediation Conflict resolution programs help youth to develop sympathy for others and to control their emotions. They also teach skills in communication and problem-solving. Usually, participants engage in role-playing so they can feel what "the other side" feels.

Mediation training programs for students teach ways to settle all the kinds of conflicts between individuals that occur in the school or in the community. Usually, mediators work in pairs to solve problems. Mediation is valuable for both the disputants and the mediators; the disputants get assistance in resolving their conflicts fairly and without violence, and the student mediators feel empowered to help one another deal with their differences without adult involvement.

Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention Programs Attitudes about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs are formed early in life. Most young people are first tempted to use alcohol or other drugs between the ages of 12 and 14. The focus of this program is to educate youth about the harmful effects of alcohol and other drugs and to teach youth how to say "NO".

Gang Awareness Education The importance of gang awareness teaches our youth the dangers of gang life, how to identify gang members, ways to deal with peer pressure on joining a gang, and reasons not to become a gang member.

Gun Violence Education The focus of this program is to teach youth about the dangers of guns, gun safety, counseling, and crisis intervention. We encourage students to report any weapons they know about on school grounds to the police and/or school authorities. Due to the easy availability of handguns, particularly in urban areas, gun violence educational programs are needed.

Recreation Programs Recreation programs alone are not enough to prevent youth violence, but they can help control the tensions in a community, and they are a valuable addition to education programs. Sports are good outlets for stress and anger, and organized sports programs teach youth how to get along and work with each other, and help keep youth off the street and away from possible violence.