Community Affairs Bureau

The Community and Youth Outreach Section runs various community based programs, including:

• Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)
• Crime Prevention Display Vehicle
• The Police Explorer Program
• Students Together Against Negative Decision (STAND)
• The Student Internship Program
• The Citizen's Police Academy
• Police Athletic League (PAL)
• The DUI Mobile Educational Center
• The Community Education Unit (CEU)
• The Gun Bounty Program
• Crime prevention programs

The Section provides various other services to schools and community organizations throughout MDC. The highly successful D.A.R.E. program reaches over 20,000 students in Miami-Dade each year. The Miami-Dade PAL afterschool program reaches over 20,000 children each year by involving them in a variety of sports, games, educational activities, and various events. STAND, geared toward high school youths, reaches over 90,000 students annually. The Community Education Unit services over 100 Miami-Dade County Schools, from Pre-K to fifth grade. The CEU offers safety presentations to students and seniors in our community, reaching over 100,000 citizens each year. 

The Youth Outreach Unit (YOU) was created in 2016, to address youth gun violence within the Northside, South, and Intracoastal Districts through the mentoring of high-risk youth by MDPD police officers. For 2021, the YOU Program is being redesigned to be more effective and efficient, while keeping the same objective of reducing gun violence through positive relationships with our officers. The enhanced YOU Program will have two components, a structured program at a Miami-Dade Parks Recreation and Open Spaces facility, and an officer volunteer component facilitated by Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Miami.

The SCGP is responsible for the administration of the Department’s School Crossing Guard Unit, which provides school crossing guards for schools in unincorporated MDC, as well as those municipalities entering into legal agreements for services. The SGGP serves Public Elementary Schools, K-8 Centers, Middle Schools, Primary Learning Centers, High School, and Charter Schools, and facilitates the safe crossing of children at 308 busy crosswalk posts throughout MDC.