My hero founded an organization called Black Cops Against Police Brutality, Inc., in 1991 to advocate for citizens who are victimized by the police. However, he realized that poor children were suffering even greater losses in the City of East Orange at the hands of everyone, including the police. He used his advocacy and lobbying skills from Black Cops Against Police Brutality and became the director of the East Orange Police Department's Police Athletic League (PAL) from 1999 until now.

During this time juvenile crime in East Orange has dropped by 33% over 3 1/2 years. Enrollment has increased from 150 children to 1750. He has single-handedly increased the revenue of the program from $5,000 per year to over $200,000 annually and he receives no additional money for his accomplishments

Finally, my hero did not stop there. He chose to take 3 of the children from the East Orange program into his home to live. The first child was 12 years old when Sgt. Davis met him. His mother was living an alternative lifestyle. The boy and his sister were struggling with it. The mother called Sgt. Davis every week for 6 months to work with her child as his mentor. Sgt. Davis, who was not running PAL at the time, said he did not think he could commit the time necessary to help.

After 6 months, however, Sgt. Davis agreed to help get the boy to the age of 18. On August 8th, this child turned 21 years old. He is in his third year at the College of New Jersey in Trenton. He lives with Sgt. Davis and he credits him with being the father-figure in his life. Because of Sgt. Davis, the world is a better place because a child who admittedly was drinking malt liquor, smoking marijuana and being delinquent daily is now a productive citizen in society.

Lastly, Sgt. Davis has taken in a 17 year old child from the PAL Program until she could get her life sorted out. She is currently a ward of the State of New Jersey who lives in an independent housing situation, but she sees Sgt. Davis at the police station daily where he continues to help guide her life. Last week she was hired at her first job ever. Sgt. Davis helped to prepare her by buying clothes, paying for the hairstyle and coaching her on the interview.

The final act by my hero is his greatest challenge. Since February of 2003 he has been in the process of adopting a 14 year old girl from the PAL Program – a young girl who has spent most of her life in group homes for girls. She met Sgt. Davis as a member of the PAL Boxing Program. She asked him about adopting her and he said yes. I have watched him cry many nights as he struggles through the bureaucratic maze to have this young lady as an addition to his family. He has been in therapy sessions with her for over 3 months and he has committed publicly and privately to adopting her because, as the young woman has said, "Sarge is either a father or uncle to all of the PAL kids...Everybody knows that...He's the dad that I always wanted."

Sgt. Davis has taken children that he has met at work and raised them, educated them and guided them without financial assistance from any outside agencies. He continues to answer the telephone after work hours in his home because he believes that it may be a PAL kid.

Sgt. Davis is 41 years old with a fiancee, a 12 year old daughter, and a mother who assists him in these endeavors. Last year, as an example to the PAL youth, he decided to get a Masters of Administrative Science Degree in 11 months while working full time. He graduated with a 4.0 GPA and took 15 PAL kids to the ceremony.

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