Officers in the Weed & Seed crime-fighting unit started playing pick-up basketball games with Dole Middle School students last year and saw an opportunity to reach out to the children and have some fun at the same time, according to Sgt. John Kauwenaole.

The officers have now decided to organize the students into a before-school league, using the basketball courts at the Kalihi Valley parks complex between the school and the Kalihi police station. The plan is to create positive interaction between officers and students and invite some guest speakers to talk about good and bad choices.

But when police asked permission to use the basketball courts, they were told they would need insurance coverage. Insurance is available under the umbrella of the Police Activities League, which sponsors many youth sports teams, but the kids must wear shoes while playing.

So police are seeking donations of new and gently used basketball shoes for students who don't have their own.

Police are also looking for basketballs and other gear to get the league started Sept. 14.

Taulafo Mailealo, 12, is a seventh-grader at Dole Middle and played with the officers and firefighters in pickup games last year. Yesterday she ran up and down the court wearing her slippers and shooting over the heads of the taller — but less energetic — police officers.

Mailealo said the league is a good idea and having a good pair of shoes would help her game.

Her friend and classmate Jessica Javier, 12, also thinks the league is a good idea.

"We can come over here and have fun and kids might stop cutting school," she said.

About 30 students are expected to participate and if more shoes are donated than needed, they will be forwarded to other area programs that could use the help. Police officers and firefighters will act as referees once the season starts.

Weed & Seed was established in 1997 to weed out drug dealers and violent criminals from communities nationwide while fostering a sense of communal responsibility. The state has three active Weed & Seed sites: Kalihi/Palama/Chinatown, Waipahu and 'Ewa Beach.

The "weed" portion applies federal law enforcement to rid high-crime areas of gangs, drug dealers and repeat and violent offenders.

The other part of the program applies crime prevention, intervention, treatment and neighborhood revitalization to "seed" a safer community.

Kauwenaole said the more ways to reach out to children the better.

"The YMCA has activities and so does Palama Settlement," he said. "But the kids come here anyway, so we want to take advantage of it and bring the event to the kids. It's like a captive audience and gives them a good choice."