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Association of Prosecuting Attorneys
July 20, 2012
Crime prevention brings skateboarders and police together HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - Andrew Zapata likes to spend warm summer nights on his skateboard. "I like to skate downtown with all of my friends," he said. "We get kicked out all of the time." At just 12-years-old he knows that skateboarders and police don't exactly have a history of mixing well. But in Harrisburg there is one fellow rider who might disagree. "Truthfully, I grew up skateboarding so I don't have a problem with skateboarding at all," said Officer Jenny Jenkins of Harrisburg City Police Dept. The two met at a mobile skate park, introduced this month by the Harrisburg Police Athletic League and the JumpStreet Foundation. From high-risk street corners, to neighborhoods with known drug activity, the skate park site changes every week during the summer, but the mission stays the same. "Our mission is crime prevention, a proactive tool to give them activities, so they don't commit crime," said Jenkins. |