Lights shining bright overhead, the screech of sneakers stopping and sliding echoes through the large airplane hangar of a gym.
This game is heating up, but this isn’t Clay Thompson or LeBron James. In fact, most of the players you’ll meet at the MLK Center on a Friday or Saturday night are under the age of 18.
Every other weekend, dozens of teens meet up at the MLK Center on 8th Street to dunk on police officers.
Fifteen-year-old Amir said, “it's cool. I think it's something to do over the weekend. You know, bring, bring all the kids together.”
It’s a youth-centered program called Midnight Basketball, run by officers with the Wilmington Police Department.
“It means a lot. It means the world,” said Deputy Chief Kelvin Hargrove of the Wilmington Police Department, who’s been part of Midnight Basketball for 20 years. “The more relationships we can develop with our youth, the better off we'll be because they start trusting law enforcement officers if they see them, if they interact with them on a non-confrontational basis.”
That kind of trust-building goes a long way to supporting the community policing philosophy of WPD.
Midnight basketball — AKA ‘teen night’ — has run for about 20 years as part of WPD’s effort to curb youth violence. It’s part of their Police Activities League initiative, or PAL program.
Former Interim Police Chief Ralph Evangelous believes the community can work together to prevent youth from committing serious crimes.
“The problem with juvenile crime, or youth crime right now, is that at night, especially during the summer, and even, you know, during the rest of the year, on the weekends, they've got nothing to do," Evangelous said.
State data shows that in 2023, in New Hanover County, there were 620 crimes allegedly committed by youth.
Compare that to Asheville’s Buncombe County, which many see as a peer community to Wilmington. Even with a bigger juvenile population, their total number of delinquent complaints was a lot lower. And it's trending down.
Buncombe’s decrease in youth crime is tied to their investment in community-based programs. One is a court-based program that teaches teens how to take accountability for their actions. They work through the program and sometimes pay restitution to a victim using wages they earn.
No such program exists in Wilmington. In fact, there are hardly any free, year-round programs offered in town. So, the Police Department’s small effort of playing basketball with the youth does make a difference.
Recent WPD data shows that on nights when midnight basketball is held, hardly any juveniles get arrested. It’s a big difference compared to nights without the game. It certainly gives them a better relationship with police.
Nineteen-year-old Tyran is attending UNC Charlotte this Fall, but he still plans to stop by to keep up with the midnight basketball crew.
“I come to the MLK center to see my boy, Hargrove, that's it. And Scott too, though, Scott too. And it's just a good environment," he told WHQR.
Hargrove said the basketball program really matters. But it’s not enough.
“We try our hardest to curb our youth violence, and we try to do activities, but the police department wears many hats, and we can't do it alone," he said.
And there are local organizations like Sokoto House, Voyage of Wilmington, and Dreams of Wilmington — to name a few — that aim to fill in those gaps.
Hargrove said you never know how you could impact a teen’s life.
“When I talk about mentorship, mentorship is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job. Don't lead them on, because people in their lives have been leading them on forever, and then looking at somebody that can be stable for them and give them that stability that they need," he said.
For anyone who wants to be a role model for the youth but is unsure where to start, Hargrove says to consider volunteering at the teen nights — whether that’s watching the doors, monitoring the halls or guest speaking — folks are welcome anytime.
