In room 301 at LeMoyne School about 40 first- and second-graders sit cross-legged on the floor, their faces turned up toward Jose Reyes and Kevin Draftz, who stand over them in suits and ties.
Several children raise their hands. No running in the halls. Don’t tear up stuff. Don’t break glass.
“That’s right,” he nods. Draftz sits down, reaches into a bag on the floor, and pulls out a floppy blue puppet that has a police cap on its head. Most of the children laugh when he swings the puppet around, holding it in front of his face and saying in a deep, gravelly voice: “My name is Larry Law.” The children continue to laugh, and Reyes chuckles too. “You can see that Larry Law doesn’t eat many doughnuts,” he points out.
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Reyes and Draftz work as community liaisons for the state’s attorney’s office, which has presented antidrug and antigang programs to students in the fifth through twelfth grades since 1981. Two years ago, in response to gangs recruiting younger and younger children, a program was tailored to kids ten and under. It was developed in consultation with teachers and social workers, who pointed out that little children like puppets. Since then State’s Attorney Jack O’Malley’s Puppet Patrol has been seen by children all over Cook County.
Reyes explains that the rest of the story is in the coloring books their teachers will hand out. Draftz stands up and says, “The play is about something called peer pressure. It’s your friends to the left and right of you who get you into trouble, so you have to watch who your friends are.” The children look at each other.
“OK, everybody stand up,” Reyes commands at the end of the show. The children rise. Reyes and Draftz turn to face the front of the room and raise their right hands. “Now we’ll take the Puppet Patrol pledge,” Reyes says. “Upon taking this pledge, you will become a junior assistant state’s attorney. As a junior assistant state’s attorney, you must obey your parents and teachers. Tell a policeman or an adult you trust if you see anyone selling drugs, carrying guns, or breaking any law. Take pride in yourself, your school, and your neighborhood. Raise your right hand and repeat after me”:
I will never hurt another person.
