MORE THAN 200 P.O.'S HELPED MAINTAIN PEACE AT
HIGH SCHOOL SUPERBOWL TOURNAMENT GAMES

More than 200 probation officers from across the state maintained a presence and helped to diffuse violence at high school football Superbowl games this weekend as part of a new effort called the Probation Enhancing Athletic Climate Excellence also referred to as the PEACE Partnership Community Probation Initiative.

PEACE is an unlikely alliance between the Office of the Commissioner of Probation (OCP) and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), a private, non-profit association organized by its member schools to regulate, coordinate, and promote athletic programs for high school students. Under the PEACE Initiative, probation officers are assigned to a tournament safety team at the stadiums where the Superbowl games are played. Other tournament safety team members included site supervisors, school administrators, teachers, stadium security personnel and local police. Several alcohol-related arrests were made and a probationer was apprehended by police on an outstanding warrant.

"This partnership demonstrates our commitment to the community and to public safety," said Probation Commissioner John J. O'Brien.

The probation officers were instrumental in staving off violence at the games and in identifying individuals known to law enforcement, according to Steve Fratalia, Director of Resource Management in the Commissioner's Office.

"This new effort was hugely successful. Our probation officers did a great job of making sure that incidents that sometimes occur at sporting events did not get out of control and spoil the event," Fratalia said.

Fratalia, together with Norfolk County Chief Probation Officer Thomas Mitchell, came up with the idea for the PEACE Initiative. There were 25 football tournament games played at 11 stadiums throughout Massachusetts, beginning on November 30^th and ending last Saturday.