Paterson - A mini-boot camp at the Paterson Police Athletic League´s center on River Street will take in first-time youthful offenders, under new joint program kicked off by city and county officials.

The alternative sentencing project will permit Family Court judges to make attendance in the program a condition of probation for lawbreakers who are 17 or younger.

"We´re trying to do is give these kids an attitude adjustment before it´s too late," said Detective Steve Olimpio, director of Paterson´s PAL and one of the programs co-founders.

"This program will be like a second chance to hopefully prevent kids who´ve made minor mistakes from making more serious ones in the future." Olimpio said the program was developed by Freeholder Georgia Scott and state Superior Court Judge Nestor Guzman, who presides over Family Court in Paterson.

Officially known as the Passaic Country Health and Fitness Alternative You the end of the 18-week program, PAL will also assist in job placement and conduct follow-up checks on program graduates.
 

"A lot of these kids come from single-parent homes and are in dire need of an environment with an enhanced sense of discipline," Guzman said. Most are just getting involved with the judicial system, and we want to help them correct their problems now before they get in any deeper."

Juveniles convicted of shoplifting, vandalism, and other minor crimes will attend three-hour sessions per week at the PAL center, where they will do some drill work, hear lectures given by former fellons and receive counseling services tailored to their individual problems.

"We're also going to take them on field trips out of Paterson and show them some of the nicer things going on in the world outside," Olimpio said.

"A lot of these kids don't know anything but the four-square blocks around their houses, and all they care about are the baggy pants, the gold chains and the short, shiny cars in the neighborhood."

PAL officials will also perform random curfew checks on weekends and submit monthly reports to the Family Court judges updating the progress of each juvenile. Towards the end of the 18-week program, PAL will also assist in job placement and conduct follow-up checks on program graduates.