“Don’t Let Alcohol Be Your Last Taste Of Life” Program

The goals of the “Don’t Let Alcohol Be Your Last Taste Of Life” program are to educate students on the consequences of underage drinking.  The Miami-Dade Police Department initiated this unique proactive educational program in unincorporated Miami-Dade County (MDC) high schools to inform students about the consequences of their actions.  This program targets holidays, proms, and graduation events, and reaches over 70,000 students in approximately 25 high schools throughout MDC.  The program has student committee members designing the actual curriculum, and community support is generated by enlisting the support of high school principals, police officers, parents, community organizations, businesses, and especially the students themselves.  The prevention message is presented in the way of a poster contest, slide presentations of actual crashes, multimedia presentations, youth fair project contest, classroom presentations, and alcohol related crash reenactments at local schools.  The program also hosts an annual Zero Tolerance for Underage Drinking Youth Summit, where experts in the alcohol prevention field conduct a seminar on the consequences of underage drinking.

Organizations or individuals interested in the “Don’t Let Alcohol Be Your Last Taste of Life” program should contact Sergeant Lonny Allen at (305) 471-1751, or by e-mail at lrallen@mdpd.com.

“Join A Team, Not A Gang”

The “Join A Team, Not A Gang” program is a partnership between MDPD and the University of Miami (UM) in which children impacted by the MDPD’s Police Athletic League (PAL) are taken to numerous UM sporting activities such as football, baseball, and track & field events.  Additionally, the university sponsors sports clinics in which the children receive hands on instruction by UM athletes as well as the coaching staff.  The MDPD yearly sponsors the printing of a poster featuring athlete’s from UM, who have demonstrated a strong work ethic as well as who have volunteered in community service activities.  The goal of the program is to increase the students’ awareness of gangs and provide them with alternatives to gang membership.

Organizations or individuals interested in the “Join A Team, Not A Gang” program should contact Sergeant Lazaro Llerena at (305) 471-1738, or by e-mail at lllerena@mdpd.com.