Enfield Juvenile Review Board Original Feted For 57 Years Of Service

ENFIELD, CT — In September 1965, Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs, his fourth career no-hitter; comedies such as "Get Smart," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Hogan's Heroes" and "F-Troop" made their television debuts; and the Beatles topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks with "Help."

In Enfield, help arrived for dozens of troubled youths with the formation of a Juvenile Review Board. The first of its kind in Connecticut, the JRB was founded as a collaborative effort between the Youth and Family Services bureau and the Enfield Police Department. It was created as a diversionary program for youth as an alternative to juvenile court, with the belief and understanding youth were better served in their community.

From its onset, the JRB was comprised of police representatives, community leaders, clergy members from Catholic and Protestant churches and ordinary citizens looking to make a difference. One of those residents, Dorothy Allen, designed the JRB with longtime Police Chief Walter Skower.

Skower retired in 1990, and died two years later, but Allen has persevered through four successive police chiefs and dozens of JRB members. She finally stepped down in 2022 after 57 years of service, and that dedicated was formally recognized Thursday in an appreciation ceremony at police headquarters.

Directing guests' attention to Allen, Police Chief Alaric Fox said, "Some 57 years ago, this idea was born, and this idea was born right here. 57 years of service, touching lives of people in this community. I don't think thank you is enough of a phrase to extend to you on behalf of this police department and this community."

Officer Eric Hoover, the police department's current JRB representative, called Allen "a pioneer in Youth Services," noting the Enfield board was one of the nation's first juvenile court diversion programs.

Now 91, Allen said the program began shortly after Enfield converted to a council-manager form of government.

"I met the town manager and he told me Enfield had a high rate of juvenile delinquency," she said. "When we started the JRB, I had no budget, no nothing."

The program was funded as a federal demonstration project grant from the Office of Juvenile Delinquency, but not without some resistance.

"I applied for a federal grant, and got a rejection letter right away," Allen recalled. "When I asked why, the man said he was heading to Springfield and would stop by my office. He left his briefcase and went back to New Haven, so I brought it to him and he re-wrote and approved the grant before I left his office. If I hadn't found that guy's briefcase, my whole career would have been different."

Allen became the town's first director of social services, retiring in 2004 after a 40-year career. To this day, the board she co-founded continues to divert more than 100 youth annually from juvenile court.

Retired Deputy Chief Fred Hall told Patch, "46 years ago, she got me into a program at the Enfield Police Department, and quite honestly, had she not done that, I'd probably have been client of the Enfield Police Department, not working for it. She's a wonderful human being who has helped thousands of people. The world is better off because she is here."

At the ceremony Thursday, Allen was presented some "physically small, but nevertheless very sincere tokens of our appreciation," Fox said. One was a Challenge Coin, a concept "borrowed from our military brothers and sisters," and a beautiful Appreciation Award. Hoover said plans are being made to plant a tree in Allen's honor at the public safety complex on Elm Street.

Fox concluded the event by citing a Greek proverb, which he told Allen "epitomizes the work that you've done."

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit."