I attended the third annual LAPD Youth Leadership Day celebration Tuesday, which honored the 1,200 youngsters participating in the department’s Cadet Program, and came away with some insights and concerns which lend themselves to future in-depth reportage on my part.

I was aware that the LAPD has youth cadets, but I was unaware of exactly who they are, where they come from and what they do. About 500 of them gathered on the grassy field of the Police Academy Tuesday morning at which the entire force — from Chief Charlie Beck to the patrol officers and all the various chiefs and scouts and warriors in between — treated these cadet children like little gods.

With former Los Angeles City Councilman Martin Ludlow serving as master of ceremonies, the cadets were served breakfast and then showered with more than $10,000 in scholarships, computers and other prizes as rewards for their efforts in leading a fruitful life. These rewards were made possible by contributions from several corporations, community and civic organizations and the LAPD Association.

The cadets, who are male and female and range in age from 14 to 20, are the community’s “good kids,” and they were reminded of this by Beck and Michael Josephson, the event’s keynote speaker. Josephson is one of the nation’s most respected and sought-after speakers and consultants in the field of ethics and character and is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics. His award-winning “Character Counts!” radio commentaries are broadcast in Southern California and around the world each day.

Following his encouraging words to the cadets, Josephson joined me in a private observation that gave us both pause: The cadets are overwhelmingly Latino.

“This program has no Black children in it. That is strange for Los Angeles, don’t you think?” Josephson asked me. “Indeed,” I responded.

“Do you think the Blacks are staying away from it because they view it as a strictly Latino thing?” Josephson asked. “I dunno,” I answered.

“It could be that, like me, Blacks don’t know much about this program because the LAPD is not making any special efforts to outreach the Black community and bring Black kids into it,” I surmised.

“Well, the Latino community certainly knows the benefits of this and they have flocked to it. It would be a wonderful thing if our Black youths — and other ethnicities — would do so as well,” Josephson said.

This exchange led me to seek out one of the handful of Black cadets I saw: 17-year-old Quamonte Carr, who has been a cadet from the Wilshire Division for almost a year. He graduated from Hamilton High School last month and he has his sights set on becoming a poet. (Yes, a poet.)

Carr is absolutely delighted with the Cadet program. “It’s a very good program that motivates everybody to do whatever they want to do in life,” Carr said. “I plan to use in the future, everything I learn here. Yes, you learn how to be a police officer, but you don’t have to want to be a police officer to benefit because what you learn here can be applied to whatever you want to be.

“I want to be a poet first and being a cop is my second choice,” Carr continued.
“So, if you don’t make it as the next Langston Hughes, you’ll become a poetic cop?” I asked. ”Yes. I’ll be a poetic cop,” Carr answered.

The next batch of cadets are being recruited for the training cycle that begins in September. To be a cadet, the applicant must be between the ages of 14 and 20, have a decent (2.0) grade point average, and have a letter of recommendation from somebody who is not related to him or her. Kids wanting to become cadets can apply at any police station or they can stop a cop on the street.

OK. Spurred by my conversation with Josephson and Carr, I now have a new journalistic advocacy issue: To increase the number of Black youths in the LAPD’s Cadet Program.

Asst. Chief Earl Paysinger, head of operations, has been the director of the Cadet Program for the past three years and Beck calls the program “Paysinger’s Passion.” I’m going to be all over Paysinger about what intense efforts he is making to promote this program in the Black community. I’m going to want names and dates and data. Contacts, events and statistics. I’m going to want to know each of the extraordinary measures he’s using to attract my Black children into a taxpayer-supported program that is a virtual guarantee to them of a crime-free, purposeful, altruistic life. Now, I like Paysinger; I really do. But I hope we won’t fall out.