Why PALS Paid for Badge Stickers

Most of what North Hollywood PALS funds is equipment. Trackers, tools, training fees — the things a police division needs and the City budget doesn't reach.

One item in our records is different. At one point the board approved the design and printing of LAPD badge stickers, to be handed out by officers to children in the community.

It was among the least expensive things we have ever funded.

The reason it was approved

The reasoning was written down at the time, and it was straightforward. Officers were to pass the stickers out at schools, at fairs, and at community events around the Division. The board noted that some children in this community have been taught negative stereotypes about police officers, and described the stickers as a gesture of goodwill and a token of kindness.

That was the entire case for it. No program was attached, no curriculum, no outcome anyone could report on a grant application.

Why a small thing was worth the money

Officers in the North Hollywood Division meet children regularly — on school visits, at neighborhood events, sometimes on calls. Most of those encounters are short.

A sticker gives the officer something to offer and gives the child a reason to come closer. It turns passing someone on a sidewalk into a short conversation. That is a modest thing to buy, and it is difficult to buy any other way.

It is also the kind of expense that is hard to justify inside a City budget. A line item for stickers competes against radios and vehicles and overtime, and it loses. That is generally where PALS comes in.

How we decide

We fund what the Division asks for. Some of those requests are obvious once you hear them, like a breaching tool or a tracker for a stolen bicycle. Some are smaller and harder to measure.

Both kinds get funded, because the Division is asking for both, and because our board is made up of people who live here.

North Hollywood PALS is an all-volunteer board. Every dollar raised stays inside the North Hollywood Division.

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