The bonds formed during a two-year ICMA CityLinks™ partnership between San Miguelito, Panama, and the Pinellas County, Florida, Sheriff’s Department were reinforced during a baseball tournament honoring a key participant in the partnership. 

The Jerry Babcock Cup, named for the former director of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Police Athletic League (PAL), brought together young people, police, and community members to promote crime prevention. The tournament, which took place in December 2012, was a direct result of activities conducted under ICMA’s Municipal Partnerships for Violence Prevention in Central America (AMUPREV) program and the Alcance Positivo program, which ICMA is implementing as a subcontractor to Creative Associates International. Both are funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).   

Babcock participated in an AMUPREV technical exchange to Panama in May 2011. During the trip, he described the PAL program to the local police department in San Miguelito, explaining the importance of bridging the divide between youth and police through recreational and educational activities. He then visited a playground and engaged a group of children who were playing baseball about the possibility of establishing a PAL program. The children responded enthusiastically, and Babcock promised them that he would provide uniforms and equipment to get them started and help them form sports teams.

His promise was fulfilled during the following AMUPREV exchange in March 2012, when deputies Raphael Navarro and Kelly Ford traveled to San Miguelito to deliver workshops. They filled their luggage with sports equipment and uniforms arranged by Babcock through PAL and presented them to the children, the municipal violence prevention committee (MCVP, the Spanish acronym), and the mayor, Héctor Valdés Carrasquilla.

 

Several months later, before his retirement, Babcock secured an additional $1,000 donation from USA Baseball, the governing body for amateur baseball in the United States. The donation was presented to two delegates from San Miguelito who participated in the final technical exchange to Pinellas County last August. The donation underwrote the costs of the tournament, in which 60 young people, aged 9-12, formed teams that represented four local districts.

Tournament games took place on three days and fostered great camaraderie in the community. More than 180 family members, police, and MCVP members participated. The members of the MCVP also had the opportunity to raise awareness, reinforce the purpose of their committee, and generate interest for participation in its crime prevention activities. 

The partnership between Pinellas County and San Miguelito began in 2010 and involved five technical exchanges over a two-year period. On an individual level, the donation brought full circle the promise made to the children who met with Babcock in 2011, who now understand that there are adults in the world who care about their growth and safety. On the community level, by providing the donation, ICMA’s program catalyzed the MCVP to harness its energy and resources to launch an activity that the community is proud of and that will set the tone for future activities involving youth and the police.  

To learn more, visit the ICMA International website, the Panama page, the International Development topic area in the Knowledge Network, and the International Dispatches and Notes from CityLinks blogs, or e-mail international@icma.org.