Youths Learn About Public Safety and Judicial System

CAMBRIDGE, MD--Young people in the Pine Street Committee's summer youth program enjoyed a presentation by Cambridge City Commissioner Robert Hanson (Ward 5) as he spoke about public safety and the judicial system. Throughout the meeting, the youths asked questions and participated in simple demonstrations like simulating a jury's decision process.

"The participation was superb and this was an excellent group to work with," said Commissioner Hanson.

"The Empowerment Center has been having summer programs for many years. The police and I try to come out here as often as we can and discuss the activities of the criminal justice program," said Commissioner Hanson, who also works for the local office of Parole and Probation.

Speaking to around the 40 youths who gathered in the Empowerment Center on Pine Street, he said he felt he had the best job in the world. "It's really an interesting job because we take peoples' lives that have been broken, they come from bad backgrounds and we help them out. We put them on the right track. We have more successes than we have failures," he said.

He added, "It's a job that helps people and it's a very rewarding job."

Encouraging the young people to find a rewarding career for themselves, he said, "I really want you to go to school, I want you to finish high school."

Commissioner Hanson crystallized aspects of the law on situations like assault and highlighted the steps the accused and accuser would most likely face as an incident made its way through the court system. He also explained what one should expect if found guilty of a crime.

In regard to addressing children participating in summer programs, after the meeting Commissioner Hanson said, "it is the goal of us to have as good of community relations with the police and law enforcement that we can."

"I think it is important that we get the message out that the police, law enforcement, Juvenile Justice, Parole and Probation, the State's Attorney's Office and the court systems are very interested in being proactive in the community. We have a network that comes out and has outreach programs for the communities and we want our programs to succeed," he said.