Shafiq R.F. Abdussabur: is a Community Based Patrol Officer for the New Haven Police Department. He is the Founder and Creator of CTRIBAT Youth Development Program which services approximately 55 young males ages 9 years old to 17 years old. It offers them effective programs such as the trademark Interactive Life Skill Workshops and its hallmark CTRIBAT Leadership Retreats. He is also Founder/President of the New Haven Guardians Inc. and Founder of BOLDMINDS Cultural Art Accents and BM Urban Arts Inititive. Shafiq holds several certifications to include Yale Child Study Fellowship and NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Certification. Shafiq is also a nationally recognized author who has written several research articles on youth development.
NEW HAVEN REGISTER
Officers honored for helping youths
William Kaempffer
11/22/2006
-NEW HAVEN — Police officers associated with a grassroots youth development program in the Dixwell neighborhood were honored Monday by the Board of Aldermen for their efforts.
During a brief ceremony, Dixwell Alderman Drew King, D-22, issued citations to four officers and one civilian who are involved in Connecticut RIBAT, which was founded by Officer Shafiq Abdussabur.
"This is something we know we are all affected by: our youths killing each other," King said, adding that the 55 young males in the program spent the summer reflecting on their lives rather than engaging in "gang-banging" street activities.
"If we can come together on one accord, we can stop the violence," he said.
The organization works with inner-city youths in an effort to steer them away from the streets.
Abdussabur thanked the officers and his family for their support and the participating youths "who decided not to put guns in their hands, who decided not to hang around with people with guns, who decided not to sell drugs."
Also recognized were Officers Carl Myers, Jason Jackson and Russell Blackwell. Sonda Whitfeld-Foreman, who got involved with the program after her daughter, Jajuana Cole, was fatally shot this summer in a neighborhood gang shooting, also was recognized.
The Police Department announced Monday that it donated $5,000 to the organization, which was founded about three years ago to help fill the void left when the Dixwell Q-House closed.
