Teens, law enforcement come together to improve relations

Anthony Linarez spends his long summer days at Schandler's Hall playing basketball.

The 16-year-old sometimes arrives as early as 9 a.m. and stays until after 5 p.m., playing a slew of pick-up games with other teens in the community.

That's where he met Ted Sottong. Sottong, an amateur photographer, took pictures of the basketball games and shared them with players through social media.

"What's interesting to me," Sottong said, "is that nobody organizes them. They organize themselves."

Sottong noticed the need for places like Schandler's Hall and the STARS Complex to provide kids with a safe place. As a professional architect, he began his sojourn at Lee County rec centers to see what kind of improvements could be made to facilities.

That's when Sottong said he began "recognizing the real need" for mentors.

Instead of architectural improvements, Sottong left his architecture job in June to focus on a group called Pickup the Ball. He began with a group of about 10 young men between the ages of 15 and 25. The group's mission is to meet this demographic at local basketball courts to connect these men with mentors and teach them life skills. They hold meetings with community organizations and have movie nights.

"I want them to know I'm always there as somebody who cares and believes in them," Sottong said.

Linarez, a Dunbar High School student, joined Pickup the Ball because his friends were part of it, he said.

"I do it for fun," Linarez said, "but, I'm trying to get people to play with me instead of doing bad stuff outside."

Police are people, too

At a recent event at the Bridge Youth Center in Fort Myers, it became evident to Lee County Sheriff's Capt. Carmine Marceno that something was needed to improve relationships between law enforcement and inner-city youth.

It was there that a teenager told Marceno that he hated him.

"This isn't right, this is wrong," Marceno said about that exchange. "If someone feels they hate someone, we have to change that."

Sottong also overheard that exchange. He and Marceno decided to do something about it, so they developed the forum held at the sheriff's office on Thursday.

The recent cases of police brutality seen in the media, Sottong said, happens because people generalize one another.

"Once you start putting a name with those people, there will be less violence," Sottong said.

Linarez and a group of about 25 other teens, all of them black, participated. They listened to law enforcement officials speak from their perspective. And the kids, wearing utility belts with fake guns, were able role play as officers of the law for the evening.

"They felt that we are not human," Marceno said. "After meeting and speaking, maybe they'll understand we are real people, too."

LaQuawn Covington, 18, hopes law enforcement officials will see him that way as well.

Covington said if police officers pull him over for an infraction it's not because of his dreads.

"I'm not a bad guy because I have dreads," the Fort Myers resident said. "I'm just like everyone who has no hair."

The meeting with law enforcement changed him, he said.

"I disliked cops with a passion before this," he said. Now, he said he has a better understanding of where they are coming from.

"Something has to change and I think we can all agree on that," Sheriff Mike Scott said.

The sheriff's office donated $500 to help the organization.

Changed perception

Like Covington, Antonio Taylor, 17, was not shy about his feelings toward law enforcement.

The Cypress Lake High School football player approached police officers and sheriff's deputies with trepidation. Thursday was his second time participating in the forum.

"The first time I came here, I didn't want to talk to no police," Taylor said.

Taylor grew up in Dunbar, where he watched officers arrest his father. During a recent traffic stop, Taylor said a law enforcement officer became loud with him because he kept his hands in the car instead of sticking them out of the window like he was asked.

"I thought police didn't really like black people," Taylor said.

Having the opportunity to talk to a sheriff's deputy has helped him build a connection, Taylor said. Marceno told him it's necessary to keep hands in sight to make sure subjects are not armed.

"It changes cause they showed us what they feel like," Taylor said.

Basketball reigns

Once the activities were finished, teen and deputies alike posed for pictures.

Little by little, teens trickled out of the sheriff's office.

Sottong took a few home. A second carload of teens exited the parking lot.

As one vehicle pulled out, behind them a deputy who had been participating in activities turned on his lights and sirens.

"Already?" one teen yelled at the deputy. "Are you serious?"

The deputy chuckled and waved.

Turance Cox, 21, laughed at the exchange. Before he got into his car he double-checked on their next destination.

"Schandler's Hall, right?'

The group was returning to the courts for a final pickup game.

"That's all we do," Cox said.