November 28, 2023 • 17 mins
Having dedicated 27 years of service to the Albany Police Department, retired Sergeant Lenny Ricchiuti has made quite an impact on his community, most notably in the area he was raised-- Albany's South End. Since his retirement, Lenny has become the Albany Police Athletic League's (PAL) Executive Director. An affiliate of the National Association of Police Athletic Leagues, Albany saw this nonprofit's inception in 1988. Its mission now is the same as it was then: "The Albany Police Athletic League (PAL), Inc., builds partnerships among youth, police and community through collaborative programs designed to encourage and develop good citizenship, healthy lifestyles and improve the quality of life in Albany, New York". Lenny's involvement with the organization has lasted over 30 years, the majority of which in a leadership capacity.Below is an excerpt from Lenny's nomination for the FBI Directors Community Leadership Award, submitted by Director Wray. Lenny received the award this past May at the FBI National Headquarters:"Lenny’s leadership as a volunteer at those first few PAL events in 1988 were crucial to the early success and are as important today whether raising funds or awareness, managing the daily operations or working with a child during an after-school enrichment program. Currently Albany PAL serves more than 2000 youth annually with a wide range of recreational, educational, social and athletic programs and has approximately 500 youth participating in weekly after school enrichment programming. Enrollment is drawn from every socio-economic demographic and finances will never dictate a child being accepted... Each and every program participant finds a safe non-judgmental space and a program that nurtures and teaches. There is trust that is built between child and mentor. A tool kit is constantly replenished to allow each child to reach their fullest potential, understanding that the adults they interact with [are] totally committed to them."Building community relations and mutual respect between law enforcement and the community is one of Lenny's top goals as Executive Director. As one of the only people who's been with the organization since 1988, Lenny has seen many a mentee grow up to become a mentor. The nonprofit has come a long way since its first event at Bleeker stadium, an Olympic style field day that saw 400 kids and 90 officers. Now, PAL has 8 locations in Albany, and only continues to grow. To keep up with the ever-changing trends and interests of kids, PAL's programs center around various topics such as Robotics, Legos, STEM activities, crime scene analysis/other police work, chess club, STEP teams, cosmetology programs, etc. And if there is a program a child is interested in that they don't offer, they work hard to make it happen. Their library is currently full of 2000 books to help cultivate an enriching learning experience for the youth, and during their Christmas program PAL provides a book and a stocking stuffer to each child in the program. Lenny has a great appreciation for the financial support the organization receives from the community, which helps keep PAL's services accessible for kids in need.Lenny has pride watching his community continue to grow and flourish and wants to continue to foster a positive connection between law enforcement and local families. As an active member of his community since his youth, he stresses the importance of service not only to the community but also for the individual. "There is nothing more rewarding than that feeling you get from a full heart and a full mind knowing you were able to impact a life and/or community", he says.10 years from now, he sees PAL staying in "growth mode". Based on the organization's track record and all the new opportunities that continue to present themselves, he foresees even more community engagement not just from cops but also local parents and other volunteers. He is always planning for the future and is even working on a job de
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, it's Doug Gowdy from WGYMornings and it's time for another episode of
CEOs you should know. Joining metoday is Leonard Ricuti, better known as
Sergeant Lenny to those that know.He's the executive director of the Albany Police
Athletic Lead League. Morning Lenny,Morning Doug, how A right this morning?
I am good. Give everybody thefour to one one on the Albany
(00:21):
Police Athletic League. So we're justa small nonprofit that is trying to do
big things here in the city walbaneyWe got started about nineteen eighty eight.
We are an affiliate of the NationalAssociation of Police Athletic Leagues, which was
founded in nineteen fourteen in New YorkCity. The mission in nineteen fourteen,
(00:43):
as it was in nineteen eighty eightand as it is today, was to
bring kids, cops and community togetherin non law enforcement type settings. So
we've been doing that for a numberof years, presenting various recreational, educational
social opportunities to our youth. Thoseyouth primarily reside in the city of Albney,
(01:04):
but we do serve a number ofyouth who wind up in Aubney because
they go to school here and afriend may introduce them to the program or
say, hey, can I bringa friend to the next club, or
et cetera. And that's how weWe've dealt with so many young people outside
the city. For those people whohear their kids are doing pal that there's
kids in their neighborhood and they don'tlive in Albany, it's that's probably how
they got connected. We serve abouttwo thousand kids annually with those various activities
(01:30):
and an attempt, like I said, to build that community relations and build
that respect, that mutual respect andunderstanding that is so important and needs to
exist between the community and particular theyouth and our law enforcement community. You
know, we've had a lot ofgreat successes and we had a number of
wonderful kids to grow up and becomementors in our program, which is kind
(01:53):
of cool when the mentee becomes thementor. You know, I've had the
privilege of meeting so many terrific youngpeople that have uh, you know,
going on to be great, outstandingcitizens and uh and do wonderful things from
you know, from Jose Filamino theLake George Beach Club, uh to Dion
(02:15):
Lewis's years in the NFL, youknow, to uh our sciences out of
our PI you know, I mean, it's it's We've We've got a lot
of great kids out there. We'vehad a number of kids come back and
work for us for a period oftime after they finished college. Uh So
it's always great that they remember youthey come back and visit. We have
(02:38):
internship programs throughout the summer where alot of our young people come back and
and learn some of the things thatthey're going to need to know to work
with young people themselves, uh inan environment where they have mentors working with
them as well. So it's it'sbeen a it's a great it's been a
great opportunity for me and a greatexperience for me. I'm I'm kind of
(02:58):
like the last man standing and thesense that I was here in nineteen eighty
eight when the organization was founded.I was one of those young you know,
one of those young cops who thenSergeant Wolfgang went out well, you
know, asked us to get involvedand volunteer our time and efforts. And
you know, so going back tothat first event we did in Bleeker Stadium
(03:21):
where we had some four hundred kidsand about ninety officers participating in an Olympic
style field day type events, youknow, those things that you do in
the community, throwing the football throughthe hula hoops and running the tire rings
and all that kind of stuff.You know, We've obviously come a long
way since then to the point wherewe're you know, a legit, full
(03:43):
service youth development program. Currently,we're in about eight locations in Aubany in
the after school environment. We haveour athletic facility at Crank Street and First
Avenue at the American Little League,and then we have our physical build thing
in the Albany pal Center is locatedin the former v I, the former
Vincenion Institute High School at Madison,Ontario. So, uh uh, it's
(04:08):
uh, we've been having a lotof fun, you know. We we're
like all nonprofits actually all businesses.These past few years have presented some challenges
for sure, you know, uhduring COVID, coming out of COVID,
and and uh and and now withthings in the economy, you know,
relative to you know, we wedo exist on the support that we receive
(04:30):
financially from the community. We havea broad base of financial support which is
very important when it comes to presentingthe type of activities that that we have.
You know, we have a lotof kids in our programs that can't
afford those traditional fees associated with participation, be it Little League baseball or AAU
basketball, or you know the travelprograms that exist all over the place.
(04:56):
I mean, if you look atthe state of of the youth at athletics
and wanted to compare it to say, oh, I don't know, forty
years ago, our kids, youknow, they're not running around in those
programs as much as they were.So we need to find a way to
address that and re engage our youngpeople, which is important, and as
(05:17):
part of that, we need tore engage their parents. So you know,
we've got our work cutout for usas all as all of us do
in this field, and we lookforward to great things ahead. You know,
allbody has changed since nineteen eighty eight. Obviously kids have changed too,
though. Their likes, their interests, their attitudes, all of that sort
of stuff. You got to kindof evolve with the times and you got
(05:40):
to keep up. How has theAlbany Police Athletic League done so well?
Obviously we have our athletic programs.But we also have our our programs for
robotics, we have our our legoprograms, we have our our stem activities
from Science on Patrol, which whenwe when we first introduced that was was
very intriguing to the young people.I mean when we're talking, you know,
(06:01):
obviously the connection was because of allthe TV shows that were popping up
all over the place related to crimescene and analysis and that work, that
portion of the work in police work. And we built a program around that.
Actually, you know, it wasthrough the National Association, working with
the National Science Foundation and the Schoolsof the Future, which is an organization
(06:25):
in New York City, that broughtabout this program Science and Patrol, and
we've just had tremendous successes with that. But we have you know, with
chess clubs. Our chess clubs arevery popular. I mean, our young
people sit there and you know,and if you can equate the chess game
to the game of life, andyou know the strategies that go in playing
chess, you need to use thosemethodologies in playing life, you know,
(06:47):
because you're playing for something obviously muchmore important. You're not just playing to
win that game. And then that'sthe lesson there. But whether we're talking
about gaming or even something as simpleas library time. Our our main facility,
we have a collection of more thantwo thousand books that are on the
shelves for our young people to use. We distribute new books at Christmas time.
(07:10):
We have a we have a Christmasprogram where we provide a toy of
stocking stuff for in a book toall of our all of our youth.
We've evolved with step teams, wehave cosmetology programs, I mean, you
name it. Basically, the kidscome to us, they tell us what
they want, and we we lookin to see how we are, how
we're able to produce that, andhow we're able to present that. I
(07:30):
don't know if you can sense thepride that's oozing through as you talk about
this, Lenny, but it's witha good reason. First of all,
you're part of this community and youwant to see this community grow. And
you must see these kids when youfirst meet them and go, Okay,
we got our work cut out forus here. But you see them grow,
you see them develop, you seethem blossom. There's nothing more rewarding
than that. Oh are you kiddingme? I mean, look I I
(07:56):
well, relative to my current roleas the full time executive director, I
had the privilege of, uh,you know, of doing PAL programming,
volunteering for many years as a policeofficer. It wasn't my job. It
was just part of who I ultimatelybecame, and and I've seen it as
important. Uh. And that's becauseof the role models that I had,
probably in my life when I wasa young person. You know, I
(08:18):
grew up in the South end ofAlbany. I went to Gifting Elementary School,
you know, which still sits downthere in the corner of South Poro
Street Morton Avenue. And you know, I played at the American Little League
Downtown. I played for the InnerCity you know, Pop Warner football programs.
So I had some wonderful mentors inmy life. And it wasn't for
those primarily men at the time.You know, I'd hate to think where
(08:41):
I or the folks I grew upwith would be most of my childhood friends.
You know, they're all doing thingsin their lives that are They've got
their families, they've they've raised theirfamilies, they've they've had their careers,
and they're they're doing great things.And you know, we're all products of
that same environment. So when welook at at those young people today,
you know that that dynamics are relativelysimilar. I mean, poverty was the
(09:05):
underlining tone back then and it's stillthe underlining tone in some of those communities
that we're serving primarily. So we'rejust trying to make sure that those opportunities
are presented. And for sure,without a doubt, when when you when
you have a young Lionel Chalmers throwingfrom the pictures mound at the age of
twelve, and kids are looking atthe heat he's bringing and then to watch
him and follow him in his athleticcareers, you know, and he winds
(09:28):
up, you know, he throwsyou, he throws literally throws you a
curveball when he winds up playing inthe NBA for the Clippers. So it's
like, you know, it's whenwhen you look at those things and just
to think it even just that smallpart that you got to play in that
child's life and and what he orshe might have been were it not for
the opportunity to be able to presentthem, it certainly does make you smile.
(09:50):
And that's where that P word comesin police, right, Like you
know, You've seen where people goand say, man, if the only
they to join this program, orif only they been shown another way or
met up with somebody, you knowwhat it can be and that knowledge comes
into play here and it helps youteach, I would assume, well without
a doubt. I mean, so, I look, we're all certainly aware
(10:11):
of the trends and the conversations overthe years and a number of years ago
when they started talking about community policing, you know, and putting cops on
the beat, walking the neighborhoods,getting to know the people on their beat
in their neighborhood, and the desirefrom municipalities to hire home grown people.
You know, those types of things. I mean, in essence, community
(10:33):
policing has been going on since policingwas founded, you know, years ago,
when the Bobby would walk the beatin London. You know, it's
it's just recreated, renamed, etcetera. But I mean, there's nothing
more important than that, down toearth walking the beat, being able to
make a connection, whether it's withthe parent with the kid or both hypothetically,
because who better to you know,make the parent aware of something than
(10:56):
that guy walking the streets when theysee junior or or a little miss,
somebody maybe hanging out with somebody thatthey should be hanging out or doing something
that may lead to something we don'twant to see. It's great to be
able to have that conversation with aparent. I mean, I was fortunate,
like I said, as a youngpolice officer, to become so intimate
relative to the activities that I wasinvolved in that it naturally created those relationships
(11:18):
with parents, and then the parentscame to you too. It also presented
opportunities relative to their communities where itallowed them to talk to someone they felt
comfortable with, tell somebody they feltcould protect them and help them with a
particular problem without necessarily throwing them undera bus or throwing the community under a
bus, and still and able tostill address the situation before it gets out
(11:41):
of control. So if I hadtold that young officer Acuitie back in nineteen
eighty eight, you're not going tobelieve this, But thirty five years from
now, you're going to be theexecutive director of this and it's going to
be so much bigger than you couldhave ever imagined. What would you have
said back then? Well, Idon't know if I probably would have grinned
(12:01):
a little bit and said, okay, you know, basically from your lips
to God's ears. Maybe I don'tknow, because I've always been drawn to
this. I mean as a youngperson myself in high school, it was
always active in my community. Whichwe need our young people to do that
a little more. And and that'salso we try to engage our young people
through our high school programs to makethem understand the important part of service.
(12:22):
The service is very important, notjust to the community but to the individuals.
I mean, you can gain somuch relative to who you are,
the fabric of who you are andthe person that you're going to become,
and with all that goes good things. So you know, maybe yeah,
maybe it's not fortune. Maybe youknow people want to you know that that
kid who's got the ability to goto the NBA or go to the NFL,
(12:46):
or act on Broadway or star ina movie. Yeah, you're talking
entirely different things when it comes tothose financial rewards that that can be out
there. But there's nothing more rewardingthan that feeling you get from a full
heart and a full mind knowing thatyou were able to impact a life or
and or a community. So fiveyears, ten years from now, tell
me what that Albany Police Athletic Leagueis going to be like. So,
(13:11):
you know, it's it's it's uh. Even with the obstacles that and and
and you know bumps in the roadthat we've all experienced these past few years,
I think we we continue to bebasically in a growth mode because of
the various opportunities that have been presentedbecause based primarily because of our track work,
our track record, the work we'vedone, and the potential for the
(13:33):
for the great work to do.We have a number of great officers who
are are who are those you knowOfficer Lennyes from years ago or that you
know are are working their beat,are humping their calls and they they stop
in for basketball every day, orare are finishing up their tour duty and
saying okay, I'm gonna go downand working after school program for an hour
(13:54):
and help mentor child. So youknow, those are very important. But
you know, we also relative tothe tech community involvement, we're not just
looking for cops to be involved obviously, because that's the community part. We
need to build those relationships. Wehave a number of parents that are active
in our various activities at any giventime. And you know, we certainly
can't present the opportunities that we presentin the numbers that we present them if
(14:18):
we're simply trying to rely on paidstaff, because there's not enough money to
do that. So that's where communitycomes in, and we need those volunteer
hours. You can't run mentoring programsday in and day out, four or
five nights a week, Saturday mornings, little tight clubs, skills and drills
programming without without people, and youknow, you can't afford to always pay
(14:43):
somebody to do that. So wetake the approach that we're paying someone to
coordinate all that, and we needto volunteers to step up and we'll provide
them with the support, the tools, the equipment, the snacks, everything
that's necessary to make that particular clubsuccessful. Lenny, you realize it hopefully
is going to be years from now, but at some point somebody's gonna have
(15:03):
to try and fill your shoes.Good luck to that person. Man.
Well, well, well hopefully itwon't be that difficult. I mean,
we're we're you know, uh,you're you're you're you're always planning for the
future. So you know we Uh, it's funny you should say that we're
actually working, you know, ona job description that we're going to post
that we're looking to bring in anassistant director of position that will hopefully,
(15:28):
you know, come in here,recognize the potential the impact that they could
have to to grow opportunity and growprogramming from within Pal, because just like
it is in any business or schoolor circumstance, there's always an opportunity to
present in new ideas and do newthings and become bigger and better in the
(15:50):
sense of presenting more opportunity and andimpact more lives and and uh look,
new blood is always good, soyou know, we we look forward to
that that opportunity when that comes.And if there's a parent or even a
kid out there right now that's listeningto you and has said I've heard of
them, but I don't know ifthat's for me, make your thirty second,
sixty second pitch right now. Soobviously for more information, if if
(16:12):
you're just a bit intrigued, oror you just you're looking for an opportunity
for your young person, your childor yourself, you know, you can
check us out online at aubnypal dotorg. You can certainly email me at
programs at aubanypal dot org, oryou can give us a call at five
point eight four three five zero threenine two. Looks it's pretty simple,
(16:33):
Doug. Every kid needs a pal, right, I mean we all had
pals when we were growing up.We need them more than ever. And
and in that sense, if youtie the other key slogan that we like
to use before kids can go places, they need places to go, and
we have a lot of places anda lot of things to do now,
we just got to get them here. That is Lenny Racutie. He is
(16:55):
the executive director of the Albany PoliceAthletic League and he is a CEO.
You should know
Hey, it's Doug Gowdy from WGYMornings and it's time for another episode of
CEOs you should know. Joining metoday is Leonard Ricuti, better known as
Sergeant Lenny to those that know.He's the executive director of the Albany Police
Athletic Lead League. Morning Lenny,Morning Doug, how A right this morning?
I am good. Give everybody thefour to one one on the Albany
(00:21):
Police Athletic League. So we're justa small nonprofit that is trying to do
big things here in the city walbaneyWe got started about nineteen eighty eight.
We are an affiliate of the NationalAssociation of Police Athletic Leagues, which was
founded in nineteen fourteen in New YorkCity. The mission in nineteen fourteen,
(00:43):
as it was in nineteen eighty eightand as it is today, was to
bring kids, cops and community togetherin non law enforcement type settings. So
we've been doing that for a numberof years, presenting various recreational, educational
social opportunities to our youth. Thoseyouth primarily reside in the city of Albney,
(01:04):
but we do serve a number ofyouth who wind up in Aubney because
they go to school here and afriend may introduce them to the program or
say, hey, can I bringa friend to the next club, or
et cetera. And that's how weWe've dealt with so many young people outside
the city. For those people whohear their kids are doing pal that there's
kids in their neighborhood and they don'tlive in Albany, it's that's probably how
they got connected. We serve abouttwo thousand kids annually with those various activities
(01:30):
and an attempt, like I said, to build that community relations and build
that respect, that mutual respect andunderstanding that is so important and needs to
exist between the community and particular theyouth and our law enforcement community. You
know, we've had a lot ofgreat successes and we had a number of
wonderful kids to grow up and becomementors in our program, which is kind
(01:53):
of cool when the mentee becomes thementor. You know, I've had the
privilege of meeting so many terrific youngpeople that have uh, you know,
going on to be great, outstandingcitizens and uh and do wonderful things from
you know, from Jose Filamino theLake George Beach Club, uh to Dion
(02:15):
Lewis's years in the NFL, youknow, to uh our sciences out of
our PI you know, I mean, it's it's We've We've got a lot
of great kids out there. We'vehad a number of kids come back and
work for us for a period oftime after they finished college. Uh So
it's always great that they remember youthey come back and visit. We have
(02:38):
internship programs throughout the summer where alot of our young people come back and
and learn some of the things thatthey're going to need to know to work
with young people themselves, uh inan environment where they have mentors working with
them as well. So it's it'sbeen a it's a great it's been a
great opportunity for me and a greatexperience for me. I'm I'm kind of
(02:58):
like the last man standing and thesense that I was here in nineteen eighty
eight when the organization was founded.I was one of those young you know,
one of those young cops who thenSergeant Wolfgang went out well, you
know, asked us to get involvedand volunteer our time and efforts. And
you know, so going back tothat first event we did in Bleeker Stadium
(03:21):
where we had some four hundred kidsand about ninety officers participating in an Olympic
style field day type events, youknow, those things that you do in
the community, throwing the football throughthe hula hoops and running the tire rings
and all that kind of stuff.You know, We've obviously come a long
way since then to the point wherewe're you know, a legit, full
(03:43):
service youth development program. Currently,we're in about eight locations in Aubany in
the after school environment. We haveour athletic facility at Crank Street and First
Avenue at the American Little League,and then we have our physical build thing
in the Albany pal Center is locatedin the former v I, the former
Vincenion Institute High School at Madison,Ontario. So, uh uh, it's
(04:08):
uh, we've been having a lotof fun, you know. We we're
like all nonprofits actually all businesses.These past few years have presented some challenges
for sure, you know, uhduring COVID, coming out of COVID,
and and uh and and now withthings in the economy, you know,
relative to you know, we wedo exist on the support that we receive
(04:30):
financially from the community. We havea broad base of financial support which is
very important when it comes to presentingthe type of activities that that we have.
You know, we have a lotof kids in our programs that can't
afford those traditional fees associated with participation, be it Little League baseball or AAU
basketball, or you know the travelprograms that exist all over the place.
(04:56):
I mean, if you look atthe state of of the youth at athletics
and wanted to compare it to say, oh, I don't know, forty
years ago, our kids, youknow, they're not running around in those
programs as much as they were.So we need to find a way to
address that and re engage our youngpeople, which is important, and as
(05:17):
part of that, we need tore engage their parents. So you know,
we've got our work cutout for usas all as all of us do
in this field, and we lookforward to great things ahead. You know,
allbody has changed since nineteen eighty eight. Obviously kids have changed too,
though. Their likes, their interests, their attitudes, all of that sort
of stuff. You got to kindof evolve with the times and you got
(05:40):
to keep up. How has theAlbany Police Athletic League done so well?
Obviously we have our athletic programs.But we also have our our programs for
robotics, we have our our legoprograms, we have our our stem activities
from Science on Patrol, which whenwe when we first introduced that was was
very intriguing to the young people.I mean when we're talking, you know,
(06:01):
obviously the connection was because of allthe TV shows that were popping up
all over the place related to crimescene and analysis and that work, that
portion of the work in police work. And we built a program around that.
Actually, you know, it wasthrough the National Association, working with
the National Science Foundation and the Schoolsof the Future, which is an organization
(06:25):
in New York City, that broughtabout this program Science and Patrol, and
we've just had tremendous successes with that. But we have you know, with
chess clubs. Our chess clubs arevery popular. I mean, our young
people sit there and you know,and if you can equate the chess game
to the game of life, andyou know the strategies that go in playing
chess, you need to use thosemethodologies in playing life, you know,
(06:47):
because you're playing for something obviously muchmore important. You're not just playing to
win that game. And then that'sthe lesson there. But whether we're talking
about gaming or even something as simpleas library time. Our our main facility,
we have a collection of more thantwo thousand books that are on the
shelves for our young people to use. We distribute new books at Christmas time.
(07:10):
We have a we have a Christmasprogram where we provide a toy of
stocking stuff for in a book toall of our all of our youth.
We've evolved with step teams, wehave cosmetology programs, I mean, you
name it. Basically, the kidscome to us, they tell us what
they want, and we we lookin to see how we are, how
we're able to produce that, andhow we're able to present that. I
(07:30):
don't know if you can sense thepride that's oozing through as you talk about
this, Lenny, but it's witha good reason. First of all,
you're part of this community and youwant to see this community grow. And
you must see these kids when youfirst meet them and go, Okay,
we got our work cut out forus here. But you see them grow,
you see them develop, you seethem blossom. There's nothing more rewarding
than that. Oh are you kiddingme? I mean, look I I
(07:56):
well, relative to my current roleas the full time executive director, I
had the privilege of, uh,you know, of doing PAL programming,
volunteering for many years as a policeofficer. It wasn't my job. It
was just part of who I ultimatelybecame, and and I've seen it as
important. Uh. And that's becauseof the role models that I had,
probably in my life when I wasa young person. You know, I
(08:18):
grew up in the South end ofAlbany. I went to Gifting Elementary School,
you know, which still sits downthere in the corner of South Poro
Street Morton Avenue. And you know, I played at the American Little League
Downtown. I played for the InnerCity you know, Pop Warner football programs.
So I had some wonderful mentors inmy life. And it wasn't for
those primarily men at the time.You know, I'd hate to think where
(08:41):
I or the folks I grew upwith would be most of my childhood friends.
You know, they're all doing thingsin their lives that are They've got
their families, they've they've raised theirfamilies, they've they've had their careers,
and they're they're doing great things.And you know, we're all products of
that same environment. So when welook at at those young people today,
you know that that dynamics are relativelysimilar. I mean, poverty was the
(09:05):
underlining tone back then and it's stillthe underlining tone in some of those communities
that we're serving primarily. So we'rejust trying to make sure that those opportunities
are presented. And for sure,without a doubt, when when you when
you have a young Lionel Chalmers throwingfrom the pictures mound at the age of
twelve, and kids are looking atthe heat he's bringing and then to watch
him and follow him in his athleticcareers, you know, and he winds
(09:28):
up, you know, he throwsyou, he throws literally throws you a
curveball when he winds up playing inthe NBA for the Clippers. So it's
like, you know, it's whenwhen you look at those things and just
to think it even just that smallpart that you got to play in that
child's life and and what he orshe might have been were it not for
the opportunity to be able to presentthem, it certainly does make you smile.
(09:50):
And that's where that P word comesin police, right, Like you
know, You've seen where people goand say, man, if the only
they to join this program, orif only they been shown another way or
met up with somebody, you knowwhat it can be and that knowledge comes
into play here and it helps youteach, I would assume, well without
a doubt. I mean, so, I look, we're all certainly aware
(10:11):
of the trends and the conversations overthe years and a number of years ago
when they started talking about community policing, you know, and putting cops on
the beat, walking the neighborhoods,getting to know the people on their beat
in their neighborhood, and the desirefrom municipalities to hire home grown people.
You know, those types of things. I mean, in essence, community
(10:33):
policing has been going on since policingwas founded, you know, years ago,
when the Bobby would walk the beatin London. You know, it's
it's just recreated, renamed, etcetera. But I mean, there's nothing
more important than that, down toearth walking the beat, being able to
make a connection, whether it's withthe parent with the kid or both hypothetically,
because who better to you know,make the parent aware of something than
(10:56):
that guy walking the streets when theysee junior or or a little miss,
somebody maybe hanging out with somebody thatthey should be hanging out or doing something
that may lead to something we don'twant to see. It's great to be
able to have that conversation with aparent. I mean, I was fortunate,
like I said, as a youngpolice officer, to become so intimate
relative to the activities that I wasinvolved in that it naturally created those relationships
(11:18):
with parents, and then the parentscame to you too. It also presented
opportunities relative to their communities where itallowed them to talk to someone they felt
comfortable with, tell somebody they feltcould protect them and help them with a
particular problem without necessarily throwing them undera bus or throwing the community under a
bus, and still and able tostill address the situation before it gets out
(11:41):
of control. So if I hadtold that young officer Acuitie back in nineteen
eighty eight, you're not going tobelieve this, But thirty five years from
now, you're going to be theexecutive director of this and it's going to
be so much bigger than you couldhave ever imagined. What would you have
said back then? Well, Idon't know if I probably would have grinned
(12:01):
a little bit and said, okay, you know, basically from your lips
to God's ears. Maybe I don'tknow, because I've always been drawn to
this. I mean as a youngperson myself in high school, it was
always active in my community. Whichwe need our young people to do that
a little more. And and that'salso we try to engage our young people
through our high school programs to makethem understand the important part of service.
(12:22):
The service is very important, notjust to the community but to the individuals.
I mean, you can gain somuch relative to who you are,
the fabric of who you are andthe person that you're going to become,
and with all that goes good things. So you know, maybe yeah,
maybe it's not fortune. Maybe youknow people want to you know that that
kid who's got the ability to goto the NBA or go to the NFL,
(12:46):
or act on Broadway or star ina movie. Yeah, you're talking
entirely different things when it comes tothose financial rewards that that can be out
there. But there's nothing more rewardingthan that feeling you get from a full
heart and a full mind knowing thatyou were able to impact a life or
and or a community. So fiveyears, ten years from now, tell
me what that Albany Police Athletic Leagueis going to be like. So,
(13:11):
you know, it's it's it's uh. Even with the obstacles that and and
and you know bumps in the roadthat we've all experienced these past few years,
I think we we continue to bebasically in a growth mode because of
the various opportunities that have been presentedbecause based primarily because of our track work,
our track record, the work we'vedone, and the potential for the
(13:33):
for the great work to do.We have a number of great officers who
are are who are those you knowOfficer Lennyes from years ago or that you
know are are working their beat,are humping their calls and they they stop
in for basketball every day, orare are finishing up their tour duty and
saying okay, I'm gonna go downand working after school program for an hour
(13:54):
and help mentor child. So youknow, those are very important. But
you know, we also relative tothe tech community involvement, we're not just
looking for cops to be involved obviously, because that's the community part. We
need to build those relationships. Wehave a number of parents that are active
in our various activities at any giventime. And you know, we certainly
can't present the opportunities that we presentin the numbers that we present them if
(14:18):
we're simply trying to rely on paidstaff, because there's not enough money to
do that. So that's where communitycomes in, and we need those volunteer
hours. You can't run mentoring programsday in and day out, four or
five nights a week, Saturday mornings, little tight clubs, skills and drills
programming without without people, and youknow, you can't afford to always pay
(14:43):
somebody to do that. So wetake the approach that we're paying someone to
coordinate all that, and we needto volunteers to step up and we'll provide
them with the support, the tools, the equipment, the snacks, everything
that's necessary to make that particular clubsuccessful. Lenny, you realize it hopefully
is going to be years from now, but at some point somebody's gonna have
(15:03):
to try and fill your shoes.Good luck to that person. Man.
Well, well, well hopefully itwon't be that difficult. I mean,
we're we're you know, uh,you're you're you're you're always planning for the
future. So you know we Uh, it's funny you should say that we're
actually working, you know, ona job description that we're going to post
that we're looking to bring in anassistant director of position that will hopefully,
(15:28):
you know, come in here,recognize the potential the impact that they could
have to to grow opportunity and growprogramming from within Pal, because just like
it is in any business or schoolor circumstance, there's always an opportunity to
present in new ideas and do newthings and become bigger and better in the
(15:50):
sense of presenting more opportunity and andimpact more lives and and uh look,
new blood is always good, soyou know, we we look forward to
that that opportunity when that comes.And if there's a parent or even a
kid out there right now that's listeningto you and has said I've heard of
them, but I don't know ifthat's for me, make your thirty second,
sixty second pitch right now. Soobviously for more information, if if
(16:12):
you're just a bit intrigued, oror you just you're looking for an opportunity
for your young person, your childor yourself, you know, you can
check us out online at aubnypal dotorg. You can certainly email me at
programs at aubanypal dot org, oryou can give us a call at five
point eight four three five zero threenine two. Looks it's pretty simple,
(16:33):
Doug. Every kid needs a pal, right, I mean we all had
pals when we were growing up.We need them more than ever. And
and in that sense, if youtie the other key slogan that we like
to use before kids can go places, they need places to go, and
we have a lot of places anda lot of things to do now,
we just got to get them here. That is Lenny Racutie. He is
(16:55):
the executive director of the Albany PoliceAthletic League and he is a CEO.
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