LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) - In Lowell, police are taking a swing at crime without making a single arrest. Officers are using boxing to teach kids a lot more than just how to throw a punch.
“Everybody is going through their own battles, their own struggles in this gym,” said Dominic Lessieur of Lowell Police. “Nobody judges anybody.”
Lessieur spends his days looking out for kids as a school resource officer in Lowell. After the final bell, he’s in their corner as Coach Dom.
Lessieur is one of several Lowell officers who volunteer their time to coach in the department’s youth boxing club program. Any Lowell kid aged 10 to 18 can participate for free. They get a place to train, stay busy, and develop the tools to succeed in life.
“You learn how to be a hard worker,” said Lessieur.
Lessieur says being in schools helps him connect with the kids that could be a good fit for the program.
“Maybe a kid’s having a rough day and he keeps getting into fights. I’ll pull him aside say, hey let’s cut the crap. Stop fighting. If you really want learn how to fight we have a police boxing gym and we do things the right way,” said Lessieur.
Learning that right way can put a kid on a whole new path. Just ask Oscar Osorio.
“I was in depression before,” said Osorio. “I used to hang out with people that I shouldn’t have and now I’m here and I’m hanging out with people that actually know what to do and do the right stuff.”
Oscar found a better crowd. Juleon Nieves found something closer to family.
“It’s like a second home for me. It’s like a brotherhood,” said Nieves. “This is exactly the type of environment I like to be in. I like to get pushed. I like to push myself.”
That environment didn’t always exist. Officers say Lowell neighborhoods looked a lot different 20-years-ago with too many kids finding something very different on the streets.
“There was a lot more violence at that time,” said Gang Unit Supervisor Sgt. Mike Bouvier.
Bouvier was a young officer in Lowell’s gang unit at that time.
“We had nights where there would be multiple shots fired,” said Bouvier. “We were trying to prevent that, but at that point, we didn’t have all the community help that we needed.”
Police changed their approach by putting more focus on reaching kids before they got into trouble. With help from the Shannon Community Safety Initiative, Lowell started more after-school programs so kids had a place to go and something to work toward.
“You want to keep them steered away in the right direction. We want to be a mentor to them,” said Sgt. Mike Marshall of Lowell Police Youth Services. “It’s important to me to see these kids be successful because I want the city to be successful.”
Lowell police believe programs like these are playing a part in the positive changes being felt across the city. Department data over the last ten years shows violent crime committed by young people ages 10 to 24 is down 46%. Robberies Committed by young people are down 72% and juvenile arrests are down 70%.
“I get to go home every night look in the mirror, and feel good about what we did during the day,” said Bouvier.
For police, the real victory comes long after the gloves come off.
“If you can help one kid, right, just one and then it’s a success story,” said Lessieur. “It’s all worth it.”
For some, the gym has opened the door to big opportunities. Some of the boxers have gone on to fight in the Golden Gloves. One of amateur boxing’s best-known competitions.
Learn more about the Lowell Police Youth Services Boxing Program and other after-school programs here: Youth Services – Lowell Police Department
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)