The National Association of Police Activities Leagues, also known as National PAL, is designed to create positive relationships between children and law enforcement through a host of programs.

The organization is now promoting the significance of youth mental health.

Dr. Galen Duncan is leading that effort, and he joined Jewell Hillery on Sunday’s WGN Weekend Morning News to discuss.

“National PAL is the largest organization that forward-faces young people and police,” Duncan says. “Basically, we provide activities, opportunities, and mindset opportunities for youth to grow.

“… We have 300 PALs worldwide that are providing this type of information and resources to young people.”

Duncan played college basketball at Lake Superior State University in Upper Michigan, graduating with multiple bachelor’s degrees before going on to earn his master’s and PhD. Prior to all of that, he grew up as a “PAL kid” in Detroit, which helped him develop a positive relationship with law enforcement at a young age.

“As a young person growing up in Detroit, oftentimes the police weren’t the people that you would go to. But that was very different for me and my friends,” Duncan says. “We had an opportunity to grow up in a community where police were our mentors, were good to us. They were our coaches, and they taught us that the narrative that police officers aren’t necessarily for young people is a false narrative.

“There’s a few bad apples that make the good bunch look not as good. But the great ones are great, and they have been great to me all my life.”

See the attached video for the full interview.