Kudos to the Santa Cruz Police Officers Association...

Cops Try To Rescue School Sports
written by APB staff writers (American Police Beat http://www.apbweb.com/)

Saving people who find themselves in trouble is a pretty good job description of what it is that cops do. And in Santa Cruz, California, the local police association is trying to save something that many of us took for granted during brighter economic times – school sports. The Santa Cruz Police Officers Association is using the money it raises from a basketball game to try and save sports at two local schools. The SCPOA is teaming up with Santa Cruz High School and Harbor High School to put money back into school sports programs that need a boost after recent cutbacks due to budget issues basically put the programs on life support.
“We figured if we could start something and make it efficient we can give money each year and know we’re putting money into schools,” Steve Kopald, Harbor High School assistant athletic director, told local reporters in an interview.
The basketball game will feature the Harlem Ambassadors, which is kind of a cost-affordable version of the Harlem Globetrotters.
The Ambassadors will compete against a team composed of community members, students, and city council members.
Both high schools will sell about 200 tickets and will also try and get local businesses to kick in for advertisements.
The school that does the most fundraising will be the biggest winner and take 40 percent of the event earnings back to its athletic department.
The second place school will get 30 percent of the funds.
The Santa Cruz Police Officers Association understands that if kids are playing sports in school, they’re less likely to get into trouble in the street.
With that in mind, the police officers association is putting up $4,000 to keep the local sports programs afloat.