December 16, 2024 • 21 mins
Officer Coby Palmer joins us on this episode of the Cape CopCast to talk about our department's Police Athletic League (PAL). This program is about building healthy lifestyles and positive relationships between Police Officers and the youth of Cape Coral.
With a background in sports management, Officer Palmer is the perfect guide through the transformative power of sports to connect at-risk youth and police officers. Cape Coral PAL, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has grown to support 29 kids, fostering a community that feels like family. We dive into Officer Palmer's personal journey and discover how PAL makes a real difference in young lives, while learning ways to contribute to this inspiring initiative.
We also cover upcoming events and fundraisers for PAL, including a charity softball event, a comedy show, and a collaborative 5K race. We discuss the different sports programs for kids, from basketball to archery to boxing to gymnastics.
Listen to the passion and dedication that fuels PAL's mission to uplift Cape Coral's youth, and find out how you can play a part in this empowering movement.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Cop
cast, the official podcast ofthe Cape Coral Police Department
.
I'm one of the hosts, lisa.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Greenberg and I'm officer Mercedes Simons.
Together we make up the publicaffairs office.
Today we have a special guestofficer, kobe Palmer.
He is going to be telling us alittle bit about the PAL program
that we have going.
Pal stands for the PoliceAthletic League.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
And I'll let him get into the nitty gritty.
Well, first off, I'd like tosay thanks for having me.
This is an incredible studio.
I like being here.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
We're happy to have you.
I appreciate that.
Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So I've been with the Cape Coral Police Department
for 13 years now.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I started out in patrol and then I was a school
resource officer for six years,and now I currently run our
Police Athletic League.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's awesome For people who don't know what is
the Police Athletic League.
So the Police.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Athletic League is an extension of the department.
What we do is through anendowment fund and also through
scholarship.
We sponsor kids that are eitherat risk or need our help in
sports activities within thecommunity and it helps deter
them from maybe a life of crimedown the road or making wrong
decisions as they grow up.
We kind of intercede andsponsor them in sporting events
(01:14):
and do it that way.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, that sounds great.
So if someone wanted to helpand donate, how would they go
about doing that?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, a couple ways.
We do have a website now.
It's ccpdpalcom.
You can go right on there as adonate button and you can also
come to one of the many eventsI'm going to talk about that we
have coming up in the next fewmonths.
But before I get into all thatsort of stuff, I wanted to say
why the PAL program to me isnear and dear and why I think
it's important not just for ouragency to have but for all
(01:42):
agencies in Florida.
As a school resource officers Igot to see kids on a daily basis
, interact with them as a policeofficer from an elementary I
was in middle school and I spenta little time at a high school.
So that interaction of seeingthem and understanding that if
they trust a police officer andcome to them for anything,
that's the first step ofbuilding that relationship.
(02:03):
At the elementary school levelI loved playing recess with the
kids.
That was my connection Football, soccer, basketball.
And when I would come intoschool the next day and the kids
would get off the bus, they'dsay Officer Palmer, you coming
to recess today?
And I started saying to myselfwow, I really started having
this connection through sportand ironically I actually have a
sport management degree, abachelor's degree, from UMass
(02:25):
Amherst, so it's right up myalley and I enjoy it.
That connection I started tobuild.
I held and developed abasketball what I called an SRO
skills camp in 2019.
I did it for a couple of yearswe had 30 kids, then the next
year 50, then 75 and over 100.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And we started gaining some interest and we
said, okay, we have somethinghere.
So we got the cops out of theiruniforms and, just like regular
people, helping them teachbasketball drills.
I've coached basketball all mylife at every different level,
so it was comfortable for me and, as we were going forward, I
wanted to start sponsoring someof these kids and things we have
going on in the city.
(03:02):
When I grew up, I playedbaseball and track and field and
my parents came to all myevents.
As a young adult, my mom passedaway and to this day, my fondest
memory is her coming to mybaseball games and to my track
and field events.
And now I get to do that withmy kids and I get to do it for
kids in the Police AthleticLeague that don't have the
(03:22):
traditional family.
They've lost family members.
They have family members thatmay be in jail or aren't in town
or can't financially come tothat stuff.
Well, I step in and as aprogram, we help them out and
we're part of their lives, andthat's what the most important
part to me is about it.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's so amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, I saw.
I think it was Sergeant LaMannathat sent a video the other day
of this kid's birthday partyand he's in the PAL program and
all of them were singing to himand telling him happy birthday
and like it just gives him thissense of family 100%.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's a family.
And then we have, when I firststarted and there's a quick
little story and I'll talk aboutthat young man you just
mentioned the first kid wesponsored was for the Storms
football team.
We had Captain Ural who used towork for us.
He volunteered a lot of histime for the Storms field as a
coach and he passed away and inhis memory we started a
(04:15):
scholarship in his name for theStorms football program.
So we sponsor a kid everyseason.
In that Our very first kid wesponsored, I was all excited to
say, okay, we got him going.
I said what do you need?
Do you need some gear?
What can we get for you?
And he looked at me.
He said Officer Pombert, justcome to the game, just come
watch me play.
And I drove home that night andI said to myself you know, I
feel this responsibility thatfor this to work, I know what I
(04:39):
need to do now.
And I got to be involved inthese kids' lives and help them
out from every aspect that wecan.
And it really hit home that youknow we had a kid that could
ask for anything.
Right, most kids are going tosay can I get shoes, football,
he just wanted someone to comewatch him play because of his
situation and we started doingthat and I'm involved in his
life, every aspect of it, andI've had him for six years now
(05:01):
and it's incredible growth thathe's shown and I'm real close to
the family and to this date,now we have 29 kids in our
program.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Amazing.
It's really grown very well.
Wow, that's so awesome.
I think it's just a thing tohave for these kids someone to
show up for them and let themknow that they care.
And it's not always just atrisk, sometimes it's just, you
know, you need a little extrahelp.
Sports are expensive Veryexpensive yeah, super expensive.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
So kind of the process we go through is that I
have an application online atccpdpalcom.
You would fill it out and thevery last part of it is why do
you want to be in a PAL program?
The big thing that we have isaccountability.
So how you would do it is youwould be either living in Cape
Coral or go to a Cape Coralschool.
You'll get referred to by yourschool resource officer or an
(05:48):
administrator at that school.
We'll give you the applicationand then I set up a home visit.
I'll come, I'll talk to thefamily and the child about the
program, what my expectationsare, but, more importantly,
what's the child's expectationsof me and our program, because
that's what you're going to getthe most out of it.
My biggest thing is we'llprovide all the sports, all the
fees, we'll mentor you, we'll beinvolved in your life, but we
(06:10):
want you to make sure you giveback.
So when you're all said anddone with the program and you
don't need us anymore, I wantyou to come back and volunteer
your time and help us out, andthat's what I call full circle
of success.
So if we're able to do that,then we know we've been
successful.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, do you have kids that are doing that
currently?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
We do.
Actually, we just had a charityevent we finished over at Belk.
I had a couple of our kids andparents come help us with that.
And the beauty of all this isthat we have parents of the kids
we sponsor actuallyvolunteering their time in the
sport and the leagues that theirkids are involved with, so
(06:46):
they're spending time with themon top of the sports that they
do.
And when I started this programfull time this past summer, I
had two main goals was to growthe amount of females and young
ladies in our program, which wenow have over 10, which is
incredible.
I have two daughters that playsports and I know the importance
of sports.
I really wanted to get ourfemales and young ladies
involved.
They're involved in ourgymnastics, cheerleading,
basketball, and then I haveother kids that are involved in
(07:08):
football and we just started aboxing program, which I know I'm
going to come back at a latertime to talk a little bit more
about.
Let's get a little tease aboutit is that the young man called
Coach Johnny.
He was a PAL kid and now heruns the PAL boxing program and
is giving back.
So when we talk about thatlater on, it's a great thing
he's doing for the program.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
That's just incredible and it really shows
the impact, because this issomeone who went through the
program himself and now wants togive back so that other kids
can have what he had.
You're our department's firstPAL officer right.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, well, the program started back in 1994.
Chief Arnold Gibbs at the timestarted the program and it was
at the time we had swornofficers that would go and
mentor the kids.
Fast forward through the 2000s,a little bit of an economic
downturn and the program wentaway for a little bit.
A retired officer, mikeAnderson, who I met when I was
working at Parks and Recreationat the youth center.
(07:58):
He was our PAL officer back inthe 2000s.
He had a boxing, wrestling,martial arts programs.
He gave so much of his time tothe kids and to the community.
He's still a very good friendof mine and a very good
consultant of the program.
I was willing to help out at anytime, and still does.
The program kind of had alittle stall after that with the
(08:19):
economic downturn.
2021, as an SRO, I had aconversation with the chief
seismologist who came to me andwe talked about rebuilding this
program and I was all on boardand our visions were exactly the
same and for a couple of yearsnow, I think we're on the right
path and we're creating anincredible thing for the kids in
this community that we willkeep going for years to come.
(08:39):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And you obviously have to be a pretty special
person to be that officer, andit seems like you fit the role
perfectly.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, I mean I have a lot of help.
I'm always asking help from ourschool resource officers,
volunteers and people in thecommunity.
I look at it this way I'm thequarterback right.
I'm just putting people inplace and making sure we have
the right things in place andwe're going to find the best
results in what we can for agroup as a whole.
So as long as I'm able to dothat and mentor and coach, I
(09:08):
think it'll be success for manyyears to come.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's so cool, that's awesome.
So you guys just had one eventand you have a few coming up.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yesterday was incredible.
We partnered with Aloha Marineand we had an event at Fathoms
where we had to fill the boat,drive it that we collected a lot
of toys and one thing in ourPAL program I'm teaching our
kids is to give back right.
We're really blessed in thesports and the stuff that we do
that it's important to give backas well.
So our kids this week will bedonating those toys to the Gala
(09:37):
San Jose Children's Hospital tohelp those kids out for this
holiday season.
So kids helping kids seeingthat is an important part of the
program.
So what a wonderful thing andsomething we're looking forward
to doing.
This weekend Doesn't get betterthan that.
A couple other things we have.
Coming up is, on January 11thwe have a call to comedy night.
So we have a comedian cominginto Lake Kennedy Center and we
(09:58):
have Mission Barbecue and it'sgoing to be a fundraiser $50 a
person.
We will have silent auctionitems to bid on as well.
And another thing with our kidsis that our PAL kids are going
to be there and they're going tohelp clear tables and talk to
the people about the event.
So when you're there and you'reenjoying your meal and you're
donating and helping a programout, you can see where your
money's going.
(10:19):
We are a 501c tax deductibleorganization and all your
dollars are helping the kids andgrowing in the events that we
do.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's so awesome.
It's cool that they'll be theretoo, because people can then
see you know exactly where theirmoney's going, and talk to the
kids.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And it works both ways because it teaches the kids
how to speak to people right.
When I go in I do a home visitthe first thing I talk about is
looking somebody in the eye andshaking their hand and
introducing yourself, becausethat's outside your comfort zone
for most people and it still isas adults.
But when we talk about fullmentorship, the money and
sponsoring the kids areimportant but you have to give
your time and you have to beinvolved and we want to develop
(10:57):
the kid as a whole Because ifwe're able to do that, then that
child is going to be aproductive member of Cape Coral
as they get older.
We also developed a sportmentorship program.
I want to talk about this for asecond.
So this January through April,over at Lake Kennedy Center, I
partnered with Cape Coral Parksand Recreation and developed a
what I call a sport mentorshipprogram.
So on Tuesdays and Thursdaynights we're going to have a
(11:20):
different sport per month.
So January we're going to startwith basketball.
So it's not just the sport.
We're going to bring in what wecall our DREs, the department,
our drug recognition experts.
They're going to come in andtalk about the dangers of uses
of drugs with the kids.
I'm going to have a nutritionistcome in talk about proper
dieting.
We're going to have a localcoach and Coach Ebert from the
(11:42):
Cape Coral basketball team willcome in and talk to the kids
about what are coaches lookingfor as you're growing up to make
these teams, as you become abasketball player in high school
, and then we're going to havemembers of Cape Coral Parks and
Rec talk to them about arts andcrafts, and then myself and
other officers will teach theactual specifics of the sport.
So it's two to two and a halfhours for three weeks, six
(12:04):
classes that we're going toteach the whole nine yards about
a kid growing up and beingmentored in sports and the
important things in our lives.
So that'll be on the Cape CoralParks and Recreation website.
That's awesome, so you cancheck that out.
And for the kids in our PALprogram, they'll be part of it
as well too, because, like Isaid, just seeing them play
their sports is important, butbeing involved in every aspect
(12:25):
of their lives and helping themgrow as individuals that's how
you measure success in ourprogram.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, just talking about fitness and nutrition and
stuff like that.
I don't know that I got a lotof that growing up necessarily.
I think I had to figure a lotof that out for myself as an
adult.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
In addition to that I said those were on Tuesdays and
Thursdays we're also startingthe same location on Wednesday
nights, an archery program.
So myself and a couple ofofficers just recently got
certified to teach USA levelarchery and we're going to start
an archery program with thekids.
Can I sign up, absolutely,absolutely, and it'll be over
there at Lake Kennedy onWednesday nights for four months
(13:02):
.
So going ahead for the program,I can't be happier to see the
success and how we're growingthis program.
It's going where I hoped itwould be and then we have leaps
and balances to still get to.
But if there's a sportsorganization in Cape Coral,
we're either sponsoring a kid init or we're going to sponsor a
kid in it.
Growing the partnerships witheverybody is important to us.
(13:23):
February 8th we're having acharity softball event where
we're going to raise money tohelp get the fields at Koza
Saladino Park to upgrade theT-ball fields.
So we'll have a charitysoftball event.
You can go to our website rightnow and sign up a team for that
.
We'll have competitive teams,rec teams.
It's going to be a fun event.
And then later in March we haveApex Promotions and a Cape
(13:44):
Coral Run Club.
We're going to do a 5K raceover at Rotary Park in the
trails of that and that'll beanother fundraiser as well and
getting the name of the programout there.
But also partnering with thegreat people of the community is
something I wanted to do and Icouldn't be happier how
everything's coming together forus.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's awesome.
You guys are doing such a goodjob.
You, especially are doingawesome and I was just thinking
about it because you mentionedthat there's these programs
happening Tuesdays and Thursdaysafternoons, and then Wednesday
afternoon evening as well.
So that's three nights of yourweek that you're dedicating to
this, outside of the typicalwork hours.
You're busy, so this reallymust mean a lot to you.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Right, it means a tremendous amount to me because
I can't teach the kids to dosomething if I don't do it
myself.
Give an example to talk about.
We just signed a new kid up inour program and he's been
struggling a little bit and Iwent back to the house and we
talked a little bit about whatneeds to be done, about getting
our grades up and being aproductive member in school.
To be a productive member onthe field, you have to remember
(14:44):
if you're part of a sports team,right, and I'll use this
example when I coach basketball.
I recently just coached theOasis middle school and high
school boys teams and every dayof practice we would meet at the
center court.
Okay, because what did we talkabout?
The game, the practice, wetalked about the good deed of
the day.
I would assign one player forthe next day in school to do one
(15:05):
good deed Whether you picked upa pencil that fell on the floor
, did you pay for lunch forsomebody who didn't have it, and
then, before practice started,you would have to tell that good
deed in front of everybody,right Outside your comfort zone,
talk about it and then, if youdidn't do it well, everybody
else in the team had to runsprints while you watched, so
they watched for your error, andwhat that taught was hey listen
(15:27):
, I don't want to let myteammates down.
I don't like how I feel when Ilet people down, and we would do
that every day.
And I guess one person forgotto do the deed and never forgot
again so anyhow, you're teachingthose sort of skills.
Like I said, coaching all mylife this falls PAL.
For me is mentorship andcoaching, right.
I'm just putting people in theright places for success.
(15:49):
You have 29 kids in a programin all different organizations
that live all over the place,different personalities, right?
So we are going to have a pizzaparty for them the day after
Christmas.
They're all going to come toLake Kennedy and we're going to
have a pizza party for them theday after Christmas.
They're all going to come toLake Kennedy and we're going to
get a pizza, families andeverything, and they get to meet
each other and just hang out,no agenda, just talk to each
other, become friends, because alot of them don't even know
(16:11):
each other because they're indifferent schools.
But I can't stress enough thatthe way it all works, just with
the school resource officersbeing involved and then the
school administrators, it reallyis a full circle to be
successful in the program.
And 29, 30 kids, we want togrow it.
But to do that, you know we gotto keep raising our money and
hopefully the community helpswith that.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Absolutely Got to get out to those fundraisers.
So if you're listening, pleasecome, please donate.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
For right now.
We just had it set up as aregular donation on our website,
but we are going to be creatingsports, specific amount,
specific tier levels and thingslike that.
In the next few months when wehave a boxing event, we will
have the boxers come out andyou'll be able to.
If that's your thing, you wantto just donate to boxing, we can
set that up and donate andsponsor a boxer for the upcoming
(16:58):
season.
You know things are costly andwe understand that, but the work
that the PAL program puts inthe volunteers can't put a price
tag on it To see a kid becomesuccessful.
I love telling stories.
I got one more for you here.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Oh, we love stories.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
We just added a young man to our boxing program and
it's only been a couple of weekshaving a little bit of trouble
with discipline in school.
He's a younger kid.
Well, fast forward in two weeks.
He's doing incredible in boxing.
But not just doing incredible,but we have mom and dad and the
teacher from the school comewatch him at boxing.
The principal gave me a call totell me how much he's changed
(17:35):
in school.
So I just went over myself inthe SRO ate lunch with him one
day and just for hey, hey,listen, you're doing such a
great job, you got to be praisedfor it.
Keep it going.
And that last sheet on theapplication where the kids tell
me what they want to get out ofthe program I always go back to
accountability, because I usethis analogy is that you know
you can lie to me, you can lieto your teacher, but when you
(17:57):
get up in the morning you needto look in the mirror because
you can't lie to the person inthe mirror, right?
If you use that, and you usethat every day, you understand.
Be truthful to yourself.
We're going to put you in aplace to be successful, but you
got to start your engine in themorning Meaning.
Get up with the right attitude.
Don't lie to anybody.
Don't lie to yourself.
Come with a positive up andwe'll be there when you slip up
(18:18):
and we're going to correct you.
There's very simple things thatare required in this program
Good behavior, keep your gradesup and be a productive member of
society.
If you do all three things,we're going to put you in the
right direction.
It's not asking for much, butit's asking you to be a good
person and surrounding yourselfwith good people.
And you got to understand kids,just in general right, are very
focused in the moment.
(18:39):
So we're helping with theirgoals and seeing the future and
what they want to do and getthem to that point.
So it's a great thing.
I wish I could help everyone.
Obviously we can't, but 30 kidsis a great start in a few
months and hopefully we doublethat in a year.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That'd be amazing.
You're incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, that's really awesome.
Is there anything else that youwould like to share?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Just understand that the program means so much to the
department, but not just tomyself, but the donation part of
it, if you're able to go on anddonate, that's how we grow the
program.
I'll be honest with you.
With that, that's a first goodstart, and then the comedy night
come out to that one, becausethat's important to us.
It's one of our Kickstarter andfundraisers.
And then if you just see a kidwearing their PAL shirt or out
(19:22):
in a field or out in the program, or if you see myself or other
Cape Coral police officers, justsay hi, I mean, we're regular
people too.
We like talking with the public.
A big part of our jobs isconnecting with people and kids.
I have the fun part of policework right.
I get to see kids are happy andsmiling and and I did want to
give a shout out to my Oasisfamily I haven't seen them in a
while, but I miss those kidsover there, and this is what
(19:45):
kickstarted this job for me isis my connection with them on
that campus Great staff, greatkids, great parents, and when
you have that formula, it makesmy job easy.
And the ones that need a littlebit extra help were there for
you too, but just be positiveand say hi, and that's all I can
ask for.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
That comedy event.
I mean, who doesn't love acomedian mission barbecue and
you get to hang out with thekids and meet them.
It sounds great.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I'm going to go.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, should be a fun time.
Yeah, I need some brisket.
Thank you so much for coming on.
You are just amazing.
All the work you're doing isincredible and I bet you never
thought when you decided to be acop one day that this is where
you'd land.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
No, actually it wasn't at all, and I funny
stories that I never reallywanted to be a police officer
and just working in parks andrecreation and having seen what
retired officer Mike Andersondid every day for those kids in
the Pell program and justtalking with him, that's why I'm
sitting in this chair.
I mean I give him a lot ofcredit for this, because I saw
what he was doing, I saw thechanges and the positive stuff
(20:45):
he was doing in these kids'lives.
With my background and mysports background, I would hope
that one day I would be sittingin this chair talking about it.
And 13 years into my career,here I am and I think I'm in the
right place and I think thatwe're going to do great things
for this program Not just myself, but just happy to be a
contributor, as I call it, andjust the people around me really
(21:06):
making this a success.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Awesome and for anyone interested in donating or
maybe you want to sign up a kidfill out one of the
applications.
That's ccpdpalcom P-A-L.
Thank you again for joining ustoday.
We loved having you on.
Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Cop
cast, the official podcast ofthe Cape Coral Police Department
.
I'm one of the hosts, lisa.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Greenberg and I'm officer Mercedes Simons.
Together we make up the publicaffairs office.
Today we have a special guestofficer, kobe Palmer.
He is going to be telling us alittle bit about the PAL program
that we have going.
Pal stands for the PoliceAthletic League.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
And I'll let him get into the nitty gritty.
Well, first off, I'd like tosay thanks for having me.
This is an incredible studio.
I like being here.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
We're happy to have you.
I appreciate that.
Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So I've been with the Cape Coral Police Department
for 13 years now.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I started out in patrol and then I was a school
resource officer for six years,and now I currently run our
Police Athletic League.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's awesome For people who don't know what is
the Police Athletic League.
So the Police.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Athletic League is an extension of the department.
What we do is through anendowment fund and also through
scholarship.
We sponsor kids that are eitherat risk or need our help in
sports activities within thecommunity and it helps deter
them from maybe a life of crimedown the road or making wrong
decisions as they grow up.
We kind of intercede andsponsor them in sporting events
(01:14):
and do it that way.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, that sounds great.
So if someone wanted to helpand donate, how would they go
about doing that?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, a couple ways.
We do have a website now.
It's ccpdpalcom.
You can go right on there as adonate button and you can also
come to one of the many eventsI'm going to talk about that we
have coming up in the next fewmonths.
But before I get into all thatsort of stuff, I wanted to say
why the PAL program to me isnear and dear and why I think
it's important not just for ouragency to have but for all
(01:42):
agencies in Florida.
As a school resource officers Igot to see kids on a daily basis
, interact with them as a policeofficer from an elementary I
was in middle school and I spenta little time at a high school.
So that interaction of seeingthem and understanding that if
they trust a police officer andcome to them for anything,
that's the first step ofbuilding that relationship.
(02:03):
At the elementary school levelI loved playing recess with the
kids.
That was my connection Football, soccer, basketball.
And when I would come intoschool the next day and the kids
would get off the bus, they'dsay Officer Palmer, you coming
to recess today?
And I started saying to myselfwow, I really started having
this connection through sportand ironically I actually have a
sport management degree, abachelor's degree, from UMass
(02:25):
Amherst, so it's right up myalley and I enjoy it.
That connection I started tobuild.
I held and developed abasketball what I called an SRO
skills camp in 2019.
I did it for a couple of yearswe had 30 kids, then the next
year 50, then 75 and over 100.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And we started gaining some interest and we
said, okay, we have somethinghere.
So we got the cops out of theiruniforms and, just like regular
people, helping them teachbasketball drills.
I've coached basketball all mylife at every different level,
so it was comfortable for me and, as we were going forward, I
wanted to start sponsoring someof these kids and things we have
going on in the city.
(03:02):
When I grew up, I playedbaseball and track and field and
my parents came to all myevents.
As a young adult, my mom passedaway and to this day, my fondest
memory is her coming to mybaseball games and to my track
and field events.
And now I get to do that withmy kids and I get to do it for
kids in the Police AthleticLeague that don't have the
(03:22):
traditional family.
They've lost family members.
They have family members thatmay be in jail or aren't in town
or can't financially come tothat stuff.
Well, I step in and as aprogram, we help them out and
we're part of their lives, andthat's what the most important
part to me is about it.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
That's so amazing.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, I saw.
I think it was Sergeant LaMannathat sent a video the other day
of this kid's birthday partyand he's in the PAL program and
all of them were singing to himand telling him happy birthday
and like it just gives him thissense of family 100%.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's a family.
And then we have, when I firststarted and there's a quick
little story and I'll talk aboutthat young man you just
mentioned the first kid wesponsored was for the Storms
football team.
We had Captain Ural who used towork for us.
He volunteered a lot of histime for the Storms field as a
coach and he passed away and inhis memory we started a
(04:15):
scholarship in his name for theStorms football program.
So we sponsor a kid everyseason.
In that Our very first kid wesponsored, I was all excited to
say, okay, we got him going.
I said what do you need?
Do you need some gear?
What can we get for you?
And he looked at me.
He said Officer Pombert, justcome to the game, just come
watch me play.
And I drove home that night andI said to myself you know, I
feel this responsibility thatfor this to work, I know what I
(04:39):
need to do now.
And I got to be involved inthese kids' lives and help them
out from every aspect that wecan.
And it really hit home that youknow we had a kid that could
ask for anything.
Right, most kids are going tosay can I get shoes, football,
he just wanted someone to comewatch him play because of his
situation and we started doingthat and I'm involved in his
life, every aspect of it, andI've had him for six years now
(05:01):
and it's incredible growth thathe's shown and I'm real close to
the family and to this date,now we have 29 kids in our
program.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Amazing.
It's really grown very well.
Wow, that's so awesome.
I think it's just a thing tohave for these kids someone to
show up for them and let themknow that they care.
And it's not always just atrisk, sometimes it's just, you
know, you need a little extrahelp.
Sports are expensive Veryexpensive yeah, super expensive.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
So kind of the process we go through is that I
have an application online atccpdpalcom.
You would fill it out and thevery last part of it is why do
you want to be in a PAL program?
The big thing that we have isaccountability.
So how you would do it is youwould be either living in Cape
Coral or go to a Cape Coralschool.
You'll get referred to by yourschool resource officer or an
(05:48):
administrator at that school.
We'll give you the applicationand then I set up a home visit.
I'll come, I'll talk to thefamily and the child about the
program, what my expectationsare, but, more importantly,
what's the child's expectationsof me and our program, because
that's what you're going to getthe most out of it.
My biggest thing is we'llprovide all the sports, all the
fees, we'll mentor you, we'll beinvolved in your life, but we
(06:10):
want you to make sure you giveback.
So when you're all said anddone with the program and you
don't need us anymore, I wantyou to come back and volunteer
your time and help us out, andthat's what I call full circle
of success.
So if we're able to do that,then we know we've been
successful.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, do you have kids that are doing that
currently?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
We do.
Actually, we just had a charityevent we finished over at Belk.
I had a couple of our kids andparents come help us with that.
And the beauty of all this isthat we have parents of the kids
we sponsor actuallyvolunteering their time in the
sport and the leagues that theirkids are involved with, so
(06:46):
they're spending time with themon top of the sports that they
do.
And when I started this programfull time this past summer, I
had two main goals was to growthe amount of females and young
ladies in our program, which wenow have over 10, which is
incredible.
I have two daughters that playsports and I know the importance
of sports.
I really wanted to get ourfemales and young ladies
involved.
They're involved in ourgymnastics, cheerleading,
basketball, and then I haveother kids that are involved in
(07:08):
football and we just started aboxing program, which I know I'm
going to come back at a latertime to talk a little bit more
about.
Let's get a little tease aboutit is that the young man called
Coach Johnny.
He was a PAL kid and now heruns the PAL boxing program and
is giving back.
So when we talk about thatlater on, it's a great thing
he's doing for the program.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
That's just incredible and it really shows
the impact, because this issomeone who went through the
program himself and now wants togive back so that other kids
can have what he had.
You're our department's firstPAL officer right.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, well, the program started back in 1994.
Chief Arnold Gibbs at the timestarted the program and it was
at the time we had swornofficers that would go and
mentor the kids.
Fast forward through the 2000s,a little bit of an economic
downturn and the program wentaway for a little bit.
A retired officer, mikeAnderson, who I met when I was
working at Parks and Recreationat the youth center.
(07:58):
He was our PAL officer back inthe 2000s.
He had a boxing, wrestling,martial arts programs.
He gave so much of his time tothe kids and to the community.
He's still a very good friendof mine and a very good
consultant of the program.
I was willing to help out at anytime, and still does.
The program kind of had alittle stall after that with the
(08:19):
economic downturn.
2021, as an SRO, I had aconversation with the chief
seismologist who came to me andwe talked about rebuilding this
program and I was all on boardand our visions were exactly the
same and for a couple of yearsnow, I think we're on the right
path and we're creating anincredible thing for the kids in
this community that we willkeep going for years to come.
(08:39):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And you obviously have to be a pretty special
person to be that officer, andit seems like you fit the role
perfectly.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, I mean I have a lot of help.
I'm always asking help from ourschool resource officers,
volunteers and people in thecommunity.
I look at it this way I'm thequarterback right.
I'm just putting people inplace and making sure we have
the right things in place andwe're going to find the best
results in what we can for agroup as a whole.
So as long as I'm able to dothat and mentor and coach, I
(09:08):
think it'll be success for manyyears to come.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
That's so cool, that's awesome.
So you guys just had one eventand you have a few coming up.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yesterday was incredible.
We partnered with Aloha Marineand we had an event at Fathoms
where we had to fill the boat,drive it that we collected a lot
of toys and one thing in ourPAL program I'm teaching our
kids is to give back right.
We're really blessed in thesports and the stuff that we do
that it's important to give backas well.
So our kids this week will bedonating those toys to the Gala
(09:37):
San Jose Children's Hospital tohelp those kids out for this
holiday season.
So kids helping kids seeingthat is an important part of the
program.
So what a wonderful thing andsomething we're looking forward
to doing.
This weekend Doesn't get betterthan that.
A couple other things we have.
Coming up is, on January 11thwe have a call to comedy night.
So we have a comedian cominginto Lake Kennedy Center and we
(09:58):
have Mission Barbecue and it'sgoing to be a fundraiser $50 a
person.
We will have silent auctionitems to bid on as well.
And another thing with our kidsis that our PAL kids are going
to be there and they're going tohelp clear tables and talk to
the people about the event.
So when you're there and you'reenjoying your meal and you're
donating and helping a programout, you can see where your
money's going.
(10:19):
We are a 501c tax deductibleorganization and all your
dollars are helping the kids andgrowing in the events that we
do.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's so awesome.
It's cool that they'll be theretoo, because people can then
see you know exactly where theirmoney's going, and talk to the
kids.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And it works both ways because it teaches the kids
how to speak to people right.
When I go in I do a home visitthe first thing I talk about is
looking somebody in the eye andshaking their hand and
introducing yourself, becausethat's outside your comfort zone
for most people and it still isas adults.
But when we talk about fullmentorship, the money and
sponsoring the kids areimportant but you have to give
your time and you have to beinvolved and we want to develop
(10:57):
the kid as a whole Because ifwe're able to do that, then that
child is going to be aproductive member of Cape Coral
as they get older.
We also developed a sportmentorship program.
I want to talk about this for asecond.
So this January through April,over at Lake Kennedy Center, I
partnered with Cape Coral Parksand Recreation and developed a
what I call a sport mentorshipprogram.
So on Tuesdays and Thursdaynights we're going to have a
(11:20):
different sport per month.
So January we're going to startwith basketball.
So it's not just the sport.
We're going to bring in what wecall our DREs, the department,
our drug recognition experts.
They're going to come in andtalk about the dangers of uses
of drugs with the kids.
I'm going to have a nutritionistcome in talk about proper
dieting.
We're going to have a localcoach and Coach Ebert from the
(11:42):
Cape Coral basketball team willcome in and talk to the kids
about what are coaches lookingfor as you're growing up to make
these teams, as you become abasketball player in high school
, and then we're going to havemembers of Cape Coral Parks and
Rec talk to them about arts andcrafts, and then myself and
other officers will teach theactual specifics of the sport.
So it's two to two and a halfhours for three weeks, six
(12:04):
classes that we're going toteach the whole nine yards about
a kid growing up and beingmentored in sports and the
important things in our lives.
So that'll be on the Cape CoralParks and Recreation website.
That's awesome, so you cancheck that out.
And for the kids in our PALprogram, they'll be part of it
as well too, because, like Isaid, just seeing them play
their sports is important, butbeing involved in every aspect
(12:25):
of their lives and helping themgrow as individuals that's how
you measure success in ourprogram.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, just talking about fitness and nutrition and
stuff like that.
I don't know that I got a lotof that growing up necessarily.
I think I had to figure a lotof that out for myself as an
adult.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
In addition to that I said those were on Tuesdays and
Thursdays we're also startingthe same location on Wednesday
nights, an archery program.
So myself and a couple ofofficers just recently got
certified to teach USA levelarchery and we're going to start
an archery program with thekids.
Can I sign up, absolutely,absolutely, and it'll be over
there at Lake Kennedy onWednesday nights for four months
(13:02):
.
So going ahead for the program,I can't be happier to see the
success and how we're growingthis program.
It's going where I hoped itwould be and then we have leaps
and balances to still get to.
But if there's a sportsorganization in Cape Coral,
we're either sponsoring a kid init or we're going to sponsor a
kid in it.
Growing the partnerships witheverybody is important to us.
(13:23):
February 8th we're having acharity softball event where
we're going to raise money tohelp get the fields at Koza
Saladino Park to upgrade theT-ball fields.
So we'll have a charitysoftball event.
You can go to our website rightnow and sign up a team for that
.
We'll have competitive teams,rec teams.
It's going to be a fun event.
And then later in March we haveApex Promotions and a Cape
(13:44):
Coral Run Club.
We're going to do a 5K raceover at Rotary Park in the
trails of that and that'll beanother fundraiser as well and
getting the name of the programout there.
But also partnering with thegreat people of the community is
something I wanted to do and Icouldn't be happier how
everything's coming together forus.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
That's awesome.
You guys are doing such a goodjob.
You, especially are doingawesome and I was just thinking
about it because you mentionedthat there's these programs
happening Tuesdays and Thursdaysafternoons, and then Wednesday
afternoon evening as well.
So that's three nights of yourweek that you're dedicating to
this, outside of the typicalwork hours.
You're busy, so this reallymust mean a lot to you.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Right, it means a tremendous amount to me because
I can't teach the kids to dosomething if I don't do it
myself.
Give an example to talk about.
We just signed a new kid up inour program and he's been
struggling a little bit and Iwent back to the house and we
talked a little bit about whatneeds to be done, about getting
our grades up and being aproductive member in school.
To be a productive member onthe field, you have to remember
(14:44):
if you're part of a sports team,right, and I'll use this
example when I coach basketball.
I recently just coached theOasis middle school and high
school boys teams and every dayof practice we would meet at the
center court.
Okay, because what did we talkabout?
The game, the practice, wetalked about the good deed of
the day.
I would assign one player forthe next day in school to do one
(15:05):
good deed Whether you picked upa pencil that fell on the floor
, did you pay for lunch forsomebody who didn't have it, and
then, before practice started,you would have to tell that good
deed in front of everybody,right Outside your comfort zone,
talk about it and then, if youdidn't do it well, everybody
else in the team had to runsprints while you watched, so
they watched for your error, andwhat that taught was hey listen
(15:27):
, I don't want to let myteammates down.
I don't like how I feel when Ilet people down, and we would do
that every day.
And I guess one person forgotto do the deed and never forgot
again so anyhow, you're teachingthose sort of skills.
Like I said, coaching all mylife this falls PAL.
For me is mentorship andcoaching, right.
I'm just putting people in theright places for success.
(15:49):
You have 29 kids in a programin all different organizations
that live all over the place,different personalities, right?
So we are going to have a pizzaparty for them the day after
Christmas.
They're all going to come toLake Kennedy and we're going to
have a pizza party for them theday after Christmas.
They're all going to come toLake Kennedy and we're going to
get a pizza, families andeverything, and they get to meet
each other and just hang out,no agenda, just talk to each
other, become friends, because alot of them don't even know
(16:11):
each other because they're indifferent schools.
But I can't stress enough thatthe way it all works, just with
the school resource officersbeing involved and then the
school administrators, it reallyis a full circle to be
successful in the program.
And 29, 30 kids, we want togrow it.
But to do that, you know we gotto keep raising our money and
hopefully the community helpswith that.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Absolutely Got to get out to those fundraisers.
So if you're listening, pleasecome, please donate.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
For right now.
We just had it set up as aregular donation on our website,
but we are going to be creatingsports, specific amount,
specific tier levels and thingslike that.
In the next few months when wehave a boxing event, we will
have the boxers come out andyou'll be able to.
If that's your thing, you wantto just donate to boxing, we can
set that up and donate andsponsor a boxer for the upcoming
(16:58):
season.
You know things are costly andwe understand that, but the work
that the PAL program puts inthe volunteers can't put a price
tag on it To see a kid becomesuccessful.
I love telling stories.
I got one more for you here.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Oh, we love stories.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
We just added a young man to our boxing program and
it's only been a couple of weekshaving a little bit of trouble
with discipline in school.
He's a younger kid.
Well, fast forward in two weeks.
He's doing incredible in boxing.
But not just doing incredible,but we have mom and dad and the
teacher from the school comewatch him at boxing.
The principal gave me a call totell me how much he's changed
(17:35):
in school.
So I just went over myself inthe SRO ate lunch with him one
day and just for hey, hey,listen, you're doing such a
great job, you got to be praisedfor it.
Keep it going.
And that last sheet on theapplication where the kids tell
me what they want to get out ofthe program I always go back to
accountability, because I usethis analogy is that you know
you can lie to me, you can lieto your teacher, but when you
(17:57):
get up in the morning you needto look in the mirror because
you can't lie to the person inthe mirror, right?
If you use that, and you usethat every day, you understand.
Be truthful to yourself.
We're going to put you in aplace to be successful, but you
got to start your engine in themorning Meaning.
Get up with the right attitude.
Don't lie to anybody.
Don't lie to yourself.
Come with a positive up andwe'll be there when you slip up
(18:18):
and we're going to correct you.
There's very simple things thatare required in this program
Good behavior, keep your gradesup and be a productive member of
society.
If you do all three things,we're going to put you in the
right direction.
It's not asking for much, butit's asking you to be a good
person and surrounding yourselfwith good people.
And you got to understand kids,just in general right, are very
focused in the moment.
(18:39):
So we're helping with theirgoals and seeing the future and
what they want to do and getthem to that point.
So it's a great thing.
I wish I could help everyone.
Obviously we can't, but 30 kidsis a great start in a few
months and hopefully we doublethat in a year.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That'd be amazing.
You're incredible.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, that's really awesome.
Is there anything else that youwould like to share?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Just understand that the program means so much to the
department, but not just tomyself, but the donation part of
it, if you're able to go on anddonate, that's how we grow the
program.
I'll be honest with you.
With that, that's a first goodstart, and then the comedy night
come out to that one, becausethat's important to us.
It's one of our Kickstarter andfundraisers.
And then if you just see a kidwearing their PAL shirt or out
(19:22):
in a field or out in the program, or if you see myself or other
Cape Coral police officers, justsay hi, I mean, we're regular
people too.
We like talking with the public.
A big part of our jobs isconnecting with people and kids.
I have the fun part of policework right.
I get to see kids are happy andsmiling and and I did want to
give a shout out to my Oasisfamily I haven't seen them in a
while, but I miss those kidsover there, and this is what
(19:45):
kickstarted this job for me isis my connection with them on
that campus Great staff, greatkids, great parents, and when
you have that formula, it makesmy job easy.
And the ones that need a littlebit extra help were there for
you too, but just be positiveand say hi, and that's all I can
ask for.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
That comedy event.
I mean, who doesn't love acomedian mission barbecue and
you get to hang out with thekids and meet them.
It sounds great.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I'm going to go.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Yeah, should be a fun time.
Yeah, I need some brisket.
Thank you so much for coming on.
You are just amazing.
All the work you're doing isincredible and I bet you never
thought when you decided to be acop one day that this is where
you'd land.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
No, actually it wasn't at all, and I funny
stories that I never reallywanted to be a police officer
and just working in parks andrecreation and having seen what
retired officer Mike Andersondid every day for those kids in
the Pell program and justtalking with him, that's why I'm
sitting in this chair.
I mean I give him a lot ofcredit for this, because I saw
what he was doing, I saw thechanges and the positive stuff
(20:45):
he was doing in these kids'lives.
With my background and mysports background, I would hope
that one day I would be sittingin this chair talking about it.
And 13 years into my career,here I am and I think I'm in the
right place and I think thatwe're going to do great things
for this program Not just myself, but just happy to be a
contributor, as I call it, andjust the people around me really
(21:06):
making this a success.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Awesome and for anyone interested in donating or
maybe you want to sign up a kidfill out one of the
applications.
That's ccpdpalcom P-A-L.
Thank you again for joining ustoday.
We loved having you on.
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