6/6/06 1 Transcript of: DOJ Connect Webcast June 6, 2006 2:00 – 3:30 PM ET “Preventing Gangs in Our Communities – Part 2” This is DOJ Connect. Today's program, "Preventing Gangs in Our Communities." Hello everyone, I'm Doris McMillon, and welcome to this national satellite broadcast focusing on "Preventing Gangs in Our Communities." We want to extend a special welcome to the satellite downlink and internet sites joining us today from across the country. Today's program is part two of a two part series developed within the Department of Justice, through a partnership between the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Now, both broadcasts will be archived and available for viewing at dojconnect.com. During the program, you'll have the opportunity to submit your questions to the panel by sending them to questions@DOJConnect.com. Here to welcome you to today's broadcast is Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzales. Under his leadership, the Department of Justice has refocused its efforts to combat violent crime to target the specific problem of gangs in America. His message today underscores this intense commitment and support of our efforts to prevent, prosecute and reduce gang crime. Thank you for participating in the second part of our program on Preventing Gangs in Our Communities. America faces gang activity in almost all of our large urban centers as well as in smaller cities, suburban communities and even rural areas. Young people are the most prone to the false promises of the gang lifestyle. And they also are most likely to be the victims of gang violence. Once they become members of a gang, they are far more likely to drop out of school, become involved in drugs and violence and experience a host of negative outcomes that stretch well into adulthood. The fight against gangs is one of the top priorities of the Department of Justice, following President Bush's leadership on this important issue. To remove the 6/6/06 2 scourage gangs, and gang violence from the experience of our nation's youth, we need an integrated, comprehensive approach that includes prevention, prosecution and prisoner reentry. Last year, I directed each U.S. Attorney to designate an anti-gang coordinator in his or her district to prepare a comprehensive, district wide, anti-gang strategy. This is being done in consultation with law enforcement partners, social services, and community and faith-based groups. Our successful project, Safe Neighborhoods Initiative, has now been expanded to include new and enhanced anti-gang efforts. And recently, I directed the U.S. Attorneys to convene local gang prevention summits by the end of this year to help coordinate the gang prevention efforts in their districts. In addition to these national efforts, this year I launched a comprehensive anti-gang initiative in six locations around the nation: Cleveland, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Tampa, and the 222 Corridor that stretches Easton to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. These programs will complement the good work already being done in the field to reduce gang violence and offer at-risk youth viable alternatives to gang membership. I am confident that these steps will help us continue to prevent and reduce violent and gang-related crime in our nation and to heal troubled communities. Every American deserves to live in an environment free from the fear of gangs and violent crime. Effective gang prevention is an important way to achieve this goal. Today's broadcast will be a viable resource as you continue your efforts to combat gang crime. Thank you for your dedication to making our communities safe. We would like to thank Attorney General Gonzales. Now, the purpose of our teleconference today is to provide a comprehensive discussion concentrating on programs, strategies and resources that can be used to reduce gang activity in our nation's communities. Our broadcast will feature videotape presentations showcasing three promising community gang-reduction projects in Riverside, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Los Angeles, California. Additionally, we will provide you with a comprehensive review of gang-related issues through discussions with our studio guests who we recognized nationally as experts in crafting meaningful responses to the problem of gangs. I would like to introduce them to you now. Our panelists today are Joe Mollner. Joe, is the senior director of delinquency prevention for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Errika Fearbry Jones, director of the Gang-Free Schools Program for the Pittsburgh Board of Education. Also joining us, Victor Gonzales, director of program services for the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office in Houston, Texas. And joining us again is Dr. Scott Decker, professor and chair of the department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Arizona State University. 6/6/06 3 And I'd like to say thank you all for being here. Welcome. To get us going, I'd like to start with each of you with an opening remark. So, Joe, why don't I start with you. Thank you, Doris. I had the opportunity to oversee our targeted outreach model for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America which encompasses our gang prevention, our gang intervention, our delinquency prevention delinquency intervention, and targeted reentry operations. Now, as Boys and Girls Clubs staff, we learned quite a while ago that we must step outside of the Boys and Girls Club walls in order to really be effective in the community. It's not just enough to open the doors and let kids come to you and work with them. We've got these hard to reach kids out there who are very high-risk sometimes, are being involved in some of these gang activities and delinquent's activities. And unless we have people to go out and seek those individuals, work with those individuals and get them involved in pro-social activities, then we can be effective in the community and the work that we have to be done. Okay, thank you, Joe -- Errika? Sure, the school district of Pittsburgh, is part of a collaborative effort to look at the gang -- some of that gang activity in Pittsburgh. We have a fabulous partnership with an outreach team that we contract through the YWCA -- YMCA, excuse me. Also, we work with Mary Beth Buchanan's office who is our United States Attorney, the Pittsburgh Bureau police, juvenile and adult probation. So, we're all working together to look at how we engage young people in solutions as well as provide services to them. All right, Victor? Hi, in the Mayor's Anti-Gang office, as the director of program services, the office in itself unique under the leadership of our Mayor Bill White and my director, Patricia Harrigton, and all of the wonderful staff that I have. It's a big task, but we like to review the policies and strategies that are being implemented in the city. We do a great job of educating professionals in the city to combat gang activity and to work with the youth involved in gangs. We have two programs in our office: Gang Reduction Intervention Team, and the Gang Free Schools Project. And those teams are responsible for providing case management, incident response to schools, to community. They also educate their areas of service that they provide for many professionals to be able to understand what exactly is going on in the city of Houston. 6/6/06 4 Okay, thank you; and Scott? Hi, again, Doris. I'd like to say that from my perspective, the most important thing for communities is to understand the nature of their local gang problem and not respond to a problem that they think exists or that they heard exists in another city or another part of the country. 'Cause gang problems, like communities, are unique. And if the viewers can make use of some of the resources, the first slide in particular, that's called the response pyramid; I think that is a useful way to orient the understanding and response to gangs. It lays out the problem from the most seriously involved, who are relatively small in number at the top of that pyramid, down to those that are the least involved at the bottom of the pyramid. It also lays out an appropriate response, suppression for the most involved, primary prevention to those at the least level of involvement that can work in any community. A variety of other resources that are up on the web that communities ought to avail themselves of following the broadcast as they begin to craft a solution. All right; well, thank you for those opening remarks. We're gonna move on with our program and I'm sure folks will be listening closely to see what has worked for you all. The combined leadership of the community and the justice system must focus on the mobilization of community resources to address gang problems. Project Bridge seeks to prevent and reduce youth crime and victimization through a continuum of care. Currently, in its tenth year, the project provides comprehensive services to gang-involved youth between the ages of 12 in 22, and their families in the city of Riverside, California. Now since the program was implemented, it has served 550 gang-involved youth in the city. Let's take a look at how it's working in Riverside, California. 300,000 people live in the city of Riverside. One of five sites selected by OJJDP in 1995, to receive grant funding for a research project that would test a model to reduce youth gang violence for a three-year period. Riverside is the only remaining site of the original five urban sites and we certainly appreciate the opportunity to assist other communities in replicating this model. 6/6/06 5 These were three of our local gangsters that were hanging out in the park here. One of them made a U-turn to come back around. They decided that they didn't want to stick around. Currently, their are 78 gangs in Riverside. And over 5,000 gang members. Each year, more youth are recruited into gangs. I've been in the gang unit since 1991, before Project Bridge started. And we have probably, I'd say two, three, sometimes four drive-by shootings a week during that period of time, between the violence in various parts of our city. And yet in a Riverside, gang-related violence has steadily declined, since the implementation of Project Bridge. So, we've only had eight murders this year. I think two of them were gang related. And we probably only handle maybe two, three drive-by shootings -- ah, I might say one drive-by shooting a month maybe. So, quite a dramatic decrease in the level of violence. We want first and foremost our community to know that we care about our kids here. It's far easier and cheaper, more effective to go out with open arms to include people in top quality programs that will help a kid change his or her at life and become acceptable with society. The range of services Project Bridge offers covers a wide spectrum. We use a holistic approach to intervene with the youth in various stages in their life so that we can meet the needs of the youth fully. 6/6/06 6 One of the first things that our program did was we implemented a street outreach program. And we targeted two areas in the city of Riverside and we selected to target youth between the ages of 12 and 22. The average program is really the key to Project Bridge. Right now, we are about to go visit one of the young people in our program that has come a long way. It's a young lady, she has many struggles. She had numerous charges for violent things, real active out in this community as far as being gang involved. So, you been doing all right? Yes. Family all right? Yeah. Okay, now, you know you are one of our success stories and we're real proud of you, all right? From where you've come from to where you're at now it's cool to see that you learned and I'm glad that that happened that way. The great thing about Selena's progress through Project Bridge is that she's never given up. That whatever services that we've offered to her, she has taken full advantage of. And her family is very involved and she has her mother and father who are very supportive of her and want to see that she does well. And through this project, she has been able to achieve her goals. What is it you want to do with your life now? 6/6/06 7 I want to be a counselor for teens. So, I can share my story about what was going on with me in the past and how it is easy to turn yourself around and leave everything else alone and it's not hard. We've found that the outreach method, provided by Project Bridge, has been very successful. And what we do is we provide these kids -- these are really high-risk kids, we provide these minors with the opportunity to see an alternative method to their gang entrenchment. Since Project Bridge began, we have served over 500 youth. And currently, we have a little under 150 youth involved. Project Bridge is the result of widespread community collaborative efforts committed to reducing youth gang violence. I'm very proud of the record of Project Bridge and its ability to essentially change the endgame -- change the outcome of what now is literally hundreds of gang members. Project Bridge grows every year. Every year, more and more people want to be a part of the collaboration that Project Bridge has initiated. Why? Because it works. And with the support of the community for Project Bridge, we can really get at the core principle of gang intervention which is it's never too early and it's never too late to help at-risk youth. Welcome back. I'd like to encourage you all to e-mail us with your questions and comments. And our address is questions@DOJconnect.com. 6/6/06 8 Okay, expert panelists -- outreach, what does it take to do it? I think Doris, what people have to really realize is it takes a special person to conduct outreach. The person has to get over a level of intimidation at times, at first, if your new to the field. It takes a certain drive, a certain passion to really want to get out there on the street and understand what is going on. But before you even get those guys out you have to kind of conduct an assessment of what's going on in your area -- what gangs exist, what signs, what symbols, what alliances, what rivals exist in the community. You always want to be cognizant of safety factors; I think the big thing for outreach workers is that because they are so low to the ground -- their ear's to the ground they see so many things and they are put in dangerous situations on occasion, that you don't want to run the risk that anybody gets hurt. But they to me are the heart of an intervention team because they are just so close to the activity and the kids that are involved in gangs. Joe? I think I'd look for some characteristics in an outreach worker also, in the fact that they can communicate with the individuals and they have good listening skills. Because you're going to have to learn a lot from the individuals that you're dealing with, and what the problems are, what the needs are, what the strengths are, and so on from the individual. So, there is a lot of things that should be looked at before you even have a person that you hire as an outreach worker. But, it's important to point out that outreach is a critical component, and good gang intervention and good gang suppression probably can't be effective without a strong outreach worker and outreach worker program. Sure, and you want to make sure that the outreach worker that you have, if they're from -- been there, done that, you want to make sure they are out of that lifestyle. And if they are from a college educated background, you want to make sure they also have that connection to the streets as well. Okay, how does the outreach team make the most of the other agencies? I think the outreach team, because they are the ones that are out first, they hit the street first, I think they are the ones that are going to educate your coordinator, your steering committee, if one exists, your group that's gonna give you a real good indication of what's happening on the street. And without those guys, you don't have very much information. And I think lots of times, 6/6/06 9 you can't get moving until you have such information about what's going on as far as gangs in the community. And you also, Doris, I think, have to look at the relationships that they build with the workers that are out there, police officers, probation officers, teachers. And the relationship that they will develop with those individuals is gonna be very important on how they're going to be able to deal with the kids and the kids they are going to be able to reach on the street. Victor, how do they get past the mistrust? Oh, that takes a long time. You've got, you've got to be able -- it helps to be able to understand, again, what's going on in the neighborhood. When the kids realize that every now and again you use the slang that they're accustomed to hearing, signs and symbols of certain gangs it makes it easier to open the door. Once you're in, you have to really bring in the professionalism. You've got to be able to really understand what their needs are and get their -- and focus on their needs. I think a lot of times, the kids are always are going to be mistrusting of folks like outreach workers because they don't know where you are coming from. You know you are a snitch, you are undercover, you're all those things. But you have to get to know them as a person. I think that's the biggest thing we'll stress here. Get to know them as a person and you'll be surprised how quickly you'll be able to establish a rapport with these kids. Okay. And I think the remarkable thing about Riverside and what's going on, you see in the video that this program has gone on for a long period of time, coming up on ten years. And it points to a real key issue, and that is the sustainability of interventions. We need to be communities that will get involved in gang prevention and intervention -- we need to be in it for the long haul. It's not going to be anything that gets solved overnight or in a quick period of time, and sticking with it in tough times and through good times is important for communities. Sure, Errika? We have an intervention team in Pittsburgh, and our outreach workers are a part of that. But we also have police, probation, and a lot of different partners -- communities and schools that are all part of that. And it's those resources that 6/6/06 10 help those outreach workers really to be able to make good on those promises that the outreach workers have to promise to the kids. If you're gonna say to a kid, "I'm gonna get you a job." The outreach worker has to be able to get that kid a job. Right. And that team is so important to do that. And in Riverside -- you know, we, we, model our project after the Riverside project and there is a lot of things that we have learned about system building, not just running a program, but how do you develop a system that can help sustain your program or project? Well, how common is if to have a program like Riverside's, to have the longevity that it's had? Well, I think it's -- it is uncommon because they have been going for ten years. However, I think we can learn from them in regards to diversifying your funding -- don't just look at one funding stream. Look at different funding streams. Look at how you can pool resources in that don't cost you any money. We have a program that through the state that will pay for all types of training for young people. That costs nothing, it's just getting that young person through the door. Also, Doris, I think what happens too, is that when you bring in all these people together to create a strategy, when you start working with other agencies like law enforcement, like criminal justice, lots of times they have small budgets that they may be able to bring to the table to be able to sustain a program like this for length, for a length of time. But it isn't until we get together that we really start to understand how we can all help each other. And the structure may differ in the long run. You might have different agencies that come into the operation to start off and they may fade out after a while and others will join in. But the important thing is to keep it going and to keep the initiative alive. Scott? And one of our dilemmas in youth interventions and delinquency interventions is that for decades, we thought of programs as opposed to strategies. A program has a start, a program has a end, it has a finite amount of money, people leave to get new jobs and what my colleagues have described in their 6/6/06 11 own communities and what we saw in Riverside, is a strategy. It is a different way of organizing the system and the community and agencies to respond to delinquency problems for the long haul as opposed to saying, "In two years the money's gone and we're not going to do anything anymore." A strategy says we're gonna change the system that responds to delinquency and gangs in our community. I would like to bring up, right now, the focusing anti-gang strategy a slide. Because that really will help to define a little bit what we're talking about. Again, Dr. Decker has sort of the talk about who's involved but if you look to the one side, you see serious chronic offenders, gang-involved youth, high-risk youth, and other community members. Your strategy needs to be focused or targeted towards those young people who have that particular issue that you are trying to engage. For example, our outreach workers actually focus on that level two young person, gang-involved youth. So, we have that resource that is not being spread over a bunch of, a bunch of different young people but really targeted. And then we have another program that is mentoring for example. And our mentoring initiative is focused at the lower -- at three and four -- young people who are in the category of the three and the four. So, again, we are trying to figure out how you build a system, build strategies, it's really understanding the young people who you are involved with, and then understanding what strategies are appropriate for those young people. Right; okay, Victor? I think the biggest thing too is to really look at the partners that you have in your -- in a given city. I think there's agencies that can service any one of these populations that we're seeing on the graph here. Who might those partners be? I mean anywhere from law enforcement, to probation officers -- even schools have a tendency to not want to engage themselves in gang intervention. But, they got to because it's gonna exist on the campus. I think it's really trying to bring folks together and educate them on, on how best I can address it and what population and what piece of the pie do I take to impact the whole city or to impact my area? And I think in order to really look and have impact on a problem that you have, you need all three areas. You need the prevention, you need intervention and you need the suppression of the police and the agencies involved. And you can see from community policing how important police have become as far as actually crossing boundaries now, not just as suppression aspects anymore. But actually helping out with the intervention and having kids go to different programming that they see out there and then the prevention areas before kids 6/6/06 12 do get involved in the system to make sure that those kids have an opportunity to do something else. Okay, how difficult, and Scott, let me address this question to you, how difficult is implementation and sustainability? Most of the evaluation and research of programs like these and other gang and delinquency programs has shown the two toughest steps are implementation and sustainability. So often it's the case a community does a good job assessing its problem, develops a good plan building on existing plans and resources and then goes to implement it and runs into a variety of roadblocks that lead it to fail to implement one part of the program, or omit completely another part of the program that has to be there. And then the sustainability, once you've implemented, the sustainability issues comes along. And it's -- it seems ironic to say that if you've got a good program and it's been running for a while, it is hard to sustain. It ought to be the opposite. Good programs ought to be self- sustaining in communities and governments and leaders ought to support 'em. But for a variety of reasons those programs run into difficulty being sustained -- perhaps a key leader leaves and is replaced. But we believe that institutionalizing change, changing the system is the best way to ensure programs can be and strategies can be sustained over the long haul. Victor? I think, you know, in the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office, we try to be the lead folks there in this city, to be able to take it to a -- as a city, take it to the grassroots to educate and show people how to implement these types of strategies. 'Cause for many folks, it is new. And so us, as the office, we try to take that lead and put it out there and give them the confidence and the directions so that they can make there own assessment and create their own strategies for whatever issue that they're having in their area. And I want to say that leadership definitely is important. Again, for our office in Pittsburgh, it's the school district that is the lead agency. However, what we have found is buy-in is so important of your partners. If your partners don't buy-in, you could be the best leader, you could be the Mayor's Office, if you don't have that buy-in from your outreach team -- if you don't have that buy-in from your partners when one does fall away at the school district -- if I've left the school district and a new leader came in, how would we be able to really keep the momentum going? So buy-in is so important and everybody having 6/6/06 13 ownership of this project, it's not the school district's project in Pittsburgh, it's everybody on our team's project. Now, what does the buy-in look like? Oh, okay, well, buy-in looks like when people are actually following through. When we bring a particular young person to the table and says -- and say for example that he needs his school records because he stayed so much in a detention center and the school record's all fragmented. We need to get those together. Our juvenile probation partner will actually go and work with their team and get all those records together so that outreach worker can now go back to that young person and say, "I got all your records, we're ready to go get your GED or we're ready to get you in the Diploma Recovery Program," et cetera. Buy-in looks like when people actually do what they say. I mean that's just an action- oriented piece. I'll give you an example. In Houston, with the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, they have created gang-caseload probation officers. They are responsible from receiving kids from juvenile court. And our outreach personnel, from the office, team up with one another. But what does probation get out of it? Hopefully, better compliance. Over the years they have had poor compliance and over the years we've done a great job of partnering together to be able to educate them a lot more on the gangs and what's happening and in return, they educate us on what the criminal justice system is like for juveniles. So together and collectively, we're able to do stuff, creative parent and probation support group where we're talking about gangs and how to fix family and the person. So, I mean there's a lot of benefits to it. Okay, Joe, what does buy-in look like for you? When you see some of the interesting things that both Errika and Victor have brought up and the fact that the different jobs that each of these agencies have and it's very important that each agency and representative there understands what their responsibilities are within the whole picture. And you won't have this, this fighting, in-fighting then about, "That's my job -- no, it's your job." This is an important thing to really set down and what those should look like. Okay, let's talk about -- Joe, we'll come back to you, intervention or prevention, and how important is community foresight? 6/6/06 14 Well, the intervention and prevention aspects, of course, now you've got different areas you are looking at. Your looking at the kids that have never been an gang activities before, but maybe have siblings who are in gang activity or they live in an area that is heavily gang infested -- those kids are going to be at high risk of gang involvement. And you're looking at the prevention aspects to find them other avenues that are going to keep them out of the gang life. When you get to intervention, you've already taking kids who have taken that step into gang activity. Your starting working with them and you start looking at a whole new parameter of what you're going to be doing and the fact -- what safety issues are involved because you're now -- you're taking a kid out of a gang. And they always talk about, you've heard of jumping in and jumping out and the beatings and everything. What are you going to do two protect that individual and also, the protection of your own staff that's out there on the street with these individuals? Those are things that have to be looked at when you starting to look at the two different aspects. Okay, Victor, can you speak to that? Community policing, I think it is a big -- it's a big thing that we have to have. You know, people have a tendency to say, "Well, the police are supposed to be there to suppress." Well, that's fine, they're gonna do that anyway. But I think research has shown that over a long period of time, you've got to have prevention and intervention. In Houston, we -- some of our officers will go out and speak to students about gang activity and how to stay away that. We have a program, a elite law enforcement assistant project that is done with our Gang Free Schools Project, on the east end of Houston, where you team up the probation officer and you team up the police officer to, to monitor curfews and to interact with the family. Not just drive around, interact with the family; get to know what the family's about and what's going on with that individual. Joe started by talking about how the Boys and Girls Clubs have moved beyond the walls of the clubs and into community. And in a sense, community policing has meant the same thing for law enforcement where they have a better knowledge of the community where they've become problem solvers and where they can use that knowledge to solve problems with other means than arrests before they become bigger problems. 'Cause in the long run, our crime problems in American cities are large enough that we need the police to do more than just suppress we need them to engage in problem solving with community and community groups as well. 6/6/06 15 Errika? And that's you're intervention team. I think just police officers serving on an intervention team where they're actually talking about young people in a context other than just arrest and things of that nature, but there talking about services and supports that they might need, they are actually hearing an outreach worker talk positively about a kid. Because that -- the police officer might know only know the family as, you know, they cut up in the community, et cetera. But the outreach worker sees them in a different light. So, just police officers opening themselves up to sit around that table to give their time is actually just, you know, just a great thing. And then one other thing that I wanted to add is, you know, that whole relationship and dynamic between outreach workers and police officers actually sitting at the table, it's a whole different dynamic. And it does take time for those relationships to grow. And it does take time for those relationships to actually be -- for people to figure out -- as we heard talk about roles for people to figure out what are appropriate roles when you're sharing and talking about young people. Okay, I'd like to encourage you all, again, if you have any questions or comments, we would like to hear from you. All you have to do is send them to questions@DOJconnect.com. All right, why don't we move on. We're going to move into our next video. It says community leaders must recognize the presence of gangs and seek to understand the nature and extent of the local gang problem. Since its implementation, the Southern Nevada Gang Task Force Community Agency membership has averaged a growth rate of 55 percent each year. Today, over 120 community agencies and 14 law enforcement jurisdictions work together in reducing gang activity through out the Las Vegas valley. The momentum of community support has continued to increased with the additional memberships of local casinos and community businesses. Using existing resources the gang task force members, have redirected youth to educational opportunities, job placement, and have created safe places for youth in areas that are heavily populated by gangs. So, let's take a look now at how Las Vegas is addressing its gang problems. Clark County is the fastest growing county in the state of Nevada. The gang population reached nearly 6,000 confirmed members with over 3,000 associate members by the end of 2004. Gang behavior is becoming increasingly violent. Because of its proximity to California, the gang problem in Las Vegas is particularly unique. Traditional turf battles and rivalries are beginning to change. 6/6/06 16 The Southern Nevada Gang Task Force started in the early '90s. A group of community leaders including the sheriff and some commissioners were responding to some incidents of violence that were going on in the community. And in our work, we went as a group to actually one of the OJJDP symposiums. And were familiarized to the model that we use today which is the Comprehensive Gang Task Force Model. And then unfortunately, about three years ago we had some major violence in our community due to gang violence. We really needed to get the community involved. They needed to be empowered, to feel that it's my neighborhood, that there is some ownership there. "How dare they come in my neighborhood and take lives or commit crimes." And that sparked the forming of the Community Gang Task Force, here in Las Vegas. The Southern Nevada Gang Task Force efforts are part of the community mobilization process that employs a steering committee. The steering committee is made up of chairs from each of the programs that support prevention, intervention and suppression of gang activity. Jerry Simon is a gang specialist with the Clark County Juvenile Justice Services and a member of the steering committee. The steering committee is the actual string or thread that connects the top of the gang task force with the bottom of the gang task force. Many communities can testify something gets lost between the top and the bottom and people rarely receive what was intended. We are just in the beginning of forming a partnership with Big Brother, Big Sister. I'm sure everyone knows about them. They will come in and do group mentoring. The steering committee is in the middle and we connect the top with the bottom. 6/6/06 17 And this is at three targeted sites; it's the McCabe Club, North Las Vegas, and the Andre Agassi Club. We do contracts, we do the Board of County Commissioner recommendations so that through all of the government entities, the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. So that everything that was envisioned at the top is delivered at the grassroots level. The task force cooperates with law enforcement in suppression and to identify gang members. By communicating and sharing intelligence, law enforcement agencies are able to come together and impact some of the unsolved cases to really bring a case to trial and lockup some of these notorious gang members. Okay, we're still verifying -- I'll let you know in a second. That's the key -- community and law enforcement. The only way we can do a really sincere effective effort, is to work together. The police capture intelligence to reduce the threat of gangs to the community. Those tattoos usually tell a story; these are all going to be documented with him, as a gangster, here in Las Vegas. (yelling) The Southern Nevada Gang Task Force also partners with Get High on Kicks Not Drugs. A program designed to build awareness, character and prevent at-risk youth from entering gangs. Our job here is to keep the kids that are good staying good and the kids that are halfway over the fence to bring them back over to our yard. We want to get children into our program by -- the twist is that they go through our workshops, will teach them the martial arts for free. So, it's kind of a hook here. Kids want to do the program, they want to get into the karate classes but they don't want to do anything for it. Our role is to get them interested in the other workshops and to get them to understand what is really out there. Approximately 420 children have participated in Get High on Kicks in the last two years. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, play a critical role on the prevention subcommittee of the gang task force. People will say to you, "Well, why, why when something happens gang related in the community -- why is the Boys and Girls Club there?" Where else are we to be? It's the very place that we need to be; our staff are trained to be there, we work with our community partners -- that's why we are where we're at and that's how we really impact gangs in Las Vegas. They utilize community partnerships to provide a positive atmosphere for children. 6/6/06 18 This program offers an alternative to youth who are at risk of being involved in a gang lifestyle. We are able to offer them a choice. Many times they grow up thinking that being involved in gang is what their life is supposed to be all about. And when they become a member of Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, we do provide an alternate lifestyle for them. The mission of the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas is to change the lives of children. It's not just about a positive place. It's not just about programs and services. For the kids that come to our clubs that we spend our time with, we literally change their lives. You should do whatever is in your heart, what is good for you. Boys and Girls Club made me realize that no matter what's going on in my life, I can do what I want to. (music) My hopes for the future are helping to share our experiences and a lot of the inside knowledge that we have with other gang task forces across the country. We are so excited about this model that we really have taken it to the statewide task force and we have said there are other communities across the state that could truly benefit from putting all or even pieces of the OJJDP model in place. And if each component of that model is working properly, you will get results and you will get success. The OJJDP model and the gang task force implemented by Clark County Nevada, has been successful, not only in coordinating community resources to show children a brighter future but by making Las Vegas a happier, safer city in which to work and live. All right, welcome back; we're gonna take some of the questions that you all have sent in. This first question comes from William Sulstrum, and it says, 6/6/06 19 "What are the first steps that a community takes to start a grassroots gang prevention program and how do you engage residents that have fear and apathy?" Well, The very first step is assessment. You've got to understand the dimensions of your gang problem, its relationship to crime in your community, membership. And there are a number of tools available up on the web under the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention website that allow you to do community assessment of the strengths and resources in your community and agencies. You can also go to the Helping America's Youth website that's also on our resource list that will lists all of the federal funded programs and resources available in your community. So, once you've done that assessment, then it is time to use it and move ahead to craft interventions. All right, Errika? Yeah, and let's bring up the slide about the five strategies for the comprehensive gang model. Because that will help us actually answer this question of little bit better. Okay. The first part of the strategy is actually community organization. So, it really goes to the heart of that question. I mean, it lays out ways to engage people. It lays out -- like for example, in Pittsburgh, right now, we're have community dialogs around these teleconferences. And so we're gonna get different people who are gonna come, and visit and sit and listen and figure out how they get tapped in to what's happening in our area. Also, we have some public safety committees that are in Pittsburgh, that people and homeowners are all involved in -- block watches. Those are the places where you find these people who you want to start your grassroot organization. The second -- the grassroot effort -- the second part is opportunity prevention. You know, what opportunities can you give to young people -- that's the second part of the model. The third part of the model talks about social intervention. What are we going to do with the parents? You can't just talk about the young people, the young people, the young people and never talk about that family that young person goes home to every single day. The fourth part is suppression. Law enforcement has a wall in this model -- why sometimes as community members we may not want to talk about law enforcement as being our partners. Law enforcement needs to be our partner because if a community is not safe, if a community has members in it who are causing and wreaking 6/6/06 20 havoc in that community, they might need to be removed. And the last part is organizational change. What do school district's needs to do in order to stop gang members from being produced or stop young people from choosing gang membership? What do law enforcement departments need to do? What do social service agencies need to do, et cetera? That model brings it all together in a platform that can help really people understand how we move forward. I think what it does, Doris, too, is the model allows you a structure, a starting point. It gives you something to look at. When you talk about gangs, there is that initial fear of just gang's activity, period. There is a level of denial. You have to educate a community about what is going on with gangs so they can have a better understanding. Invite all the key stakeholders that you're gonna need -- like law enforcement, criminal justice, schools and so forth and so on. I think it allows you to bring people together. Once they come together, they start to share. Your natural leaders start to come out. And once they start to come out, you start to be able to develop dialog and trust and building those relationships. Then eventually you can come up with some real good strategies to address something in your area. Oh, go ahead, Errika. And one of the things I wanted to say about the model is, building on what Victor said, in going back to the -- Scott had talked about is a lot of times when people are implementing the model, the don't implement all aspects of the model. And when you really look at all the aspects -- if your group that wants to do suppression all the time, then their not -- the model bring you back and says there are four other components that you need to do. When you have somebody who's only focused on providing opportunities to kids but not looking at community safety the model bring you back. So that's how the model really starts to stabilize your efforts. All right, go ahead, Victor. It takes, it takes time. This is new. For many folks that are not accustomed to working in this type of structure, new for law enforcement, new for outreach worker, new for schools 'cause everybody has their way of dealing with gangs. But I think this just allows you to be able to say, "What is my piece of the pie -- what is it that I'm going to be best at with this whole team, with this whole effort that we're trying to conduct here?" Okay, Scott? 6/6/06 21 One of the virtues of the timing of this is that it occurs several years after many communities have been engaged in Read and See, another partnership. It also occurs after Project Safe Neighborhoods has been on the ground for four or five years. And there's a partnership and a history of working together in many communities that didn't exist five or six years ago. One of the things that is really clear from the research is that if you only have one of the pieces of this model, you are not going to be successful. The only way to be successful, and it's more difficult to implement -- but the only way to be successful is to have all the pieces of the model with a roughly equivalent emphasis on each of them and then you've got a chance to begin to reduce gang membership and gang crime in your community. Joe? And the model will change as you go along through the process, also, in the fact that responsibilities might enhance in some areas, police may take on some responsibilities like they weren't taking on before like information sharing more in the community, attending community meetings, attending school meetings, spreading out the word as far as what is going on in the community as far as gangs are concerned. Schools will take on a different aspect. So you're going to see some changing roles as the program -- as the process goes on in time. Well, I endorse what I think has to happen with this is that as agencies, as a city, a state, a country, whatever it is we are going to put it in reference to, we got to put our egos aside. We've got to look and think outside the box to be able to implement and impact gang crime in any give city, state, or area. We've got to put that ego aside, we've got to look at new ways of doing things. All right, we have a couple more questions here; this one comes from Detroit, Michigan, and it says, "What are a few best practice models to address the needs of exfelons returning to the community from prison?" Actually, Doris, due to OJJDP funding as early as 1998 with us, we started a target reentry process. Where we're actually taking Boys and Girls Clubs and placing them in the correctional facilities working with young people and developing relationships with those young people while they are incarcerated. And that's -- we talked about the early planning that goes on, I think Scott mentioned that, we actually start looking at the case planning that goes on with these youth at the time they enter the facility. Work with them while they are in the facility, do some programming as far as maybe job ready -- which shows 6/6/06 22 them how to do -- their -- how to address themselves, how to do an interview and so on, then you move on into the factory and transition them back into the community. And eventually, back in the community we're still case managing those individuals. So, it becomes a three part operation. Where you're in the facility during the transition and into the community, but they can learn to depend that there are support factions out there from adults, caring adults and other role models that they can depend on and get that support from and work them back in to the community and give them a job when they get back in the community and help them with other needs and work in those areas. Okay, Scott? Addressing reentry, especially for gang members, is absolutely critical. Somewhere between 92 and 94 percent nationally, of everyone who is in prison now is going to be back on the street. And it's our question and it's our challenge to decide how we want them to come back and what we want them to do in our community. Do we want them to commit more crimes or do we want to take the steps that will enable them to become better integrated into the community. The research is pretty clear that the two most critical needs are housing and employment. And the more we can do in a state like Missouri, for example, that has a transition accountability plan, a TAP, when an inmate is committed to prison, within the first six months of their confinement, they are working on that plan to transition back to the community so it doesn't come up right before they are ready to come out. They have had time to plan on who is going to take them in to live and where they might look for a job and how they can get their Social Security card while they're still in prison and how they can move as seamlessly as possible. It's a really difficult transition, rarely seamless, from the prison into the community in a way that they won't prey on and won't commit crimes against other members of the community. Errika, isn't this where you said there's got to be -- it's very important to have a buy-in from the partners? Yeah, the partners and employers. I mean, this came up at the last community forum that you guys had last time. All committee members were talking about you need to have employers who are willing to hire the offenders when they come back to their home town. You need to add a network of employers to really be ready to get them a job. 6/6/06 23 I think we have just seen from the Attorney General Gonzales' efforts in those six new communities where a portion of that, actually $500,000 of that money that is going out there is earmarked for reentry operations back into the community. So, the leadership is seeing that there is a need out there to make sure that this reentry process is put into place. I think, Doris, the first 60 days, the first 30 days for a lot of guys is very crucial when they're coming out -- when they come out of prison or they're coming out of the county jail. They contact our office, you know, they have all of those issues, "I don't have an ID, I still got some stuff with child support -- I don't know how to do that; I don't want to go back to jail." They are faced with so many issues. And they're anxious to get something started and get going. But what we've got to pool our resources together and be a little more open. I know it's a dangerous situation sometimes for some folks. Because you get a young man, he's coming in with all of these felonies and chemical plants might look at him but nobody else. So, it's a, it's a battle -- it's a battle. We've got to open up a little bit. Okay, let's take another question, this one is from Chicago, Illinois, it says, "How have the various programs used to evaluation in their program?" The one thing I love about -- and Victor, we are like sort of peers here...in regards to our programs -- we have an evaluation that not only looks at what we're doing with the young people who we engage and who we enroll, but there is also a control group. There is another group of kids who are not getting services, not like that, in another area of the city and they are actually comparing how much more have these kids actually been involved in the program, how much have they benefited from our services, from our interventions, et cetera. So, this is real, real evaluation, not just we're just gonna provide some services and say everything works good. But when you have a comparison group like that, you're really making sure that you're giving a control for what these interventions have provided. Also, what we do is we look at our target areas and we look at gang crime in particular and we see from the implementation of the project has it gone up, has it gone down, has it fluctuating and we can also sort of tie that back to the project as well. Joe? The Boys and Girls Clubs have the opportunity to partake in a evaluation in 1999-2001, which they took clubs across the country and did an evaluation 6/6/06 24 through public-private ventures. And it was shown that if you put some effort behind these individuals and work with these kids and get them back into the clubs, get them back into pro-social activities, that in a lot of cases, and in most cases, you'll be effective in keeping them away from the gang activity and keeping them -- getting them out of the gang activity. The other thing I wanted to say is that this model that we are talking about has not just come up overnight in only working with Victor and my project. I mean, it has been in existence -- you've seen Riverside has been using it for ten years. So, it's not something this is just fly-by-night. Let's take another question. This one comes to us...from somewhere. (laughter) It says, "Are the workers cross-trained in other adolescent problems, i.e. substance abuse, violence, STD-pregnancy prevention, truancy, delinquency, et cetera?" All are necessary, you've got to have it. With my line staff, you've got to have some knowledge about substance abuse. Do you do the actually counseling on it -- no. You've got to refer that out and to your partners. If it's substance abuse related -- HIV obviously, you're not going to be -- you'll be train enough to be able to recognize but then also to be able to create some referral sources for the clients that you run across. It is necessary. You got to have it. Because the outreach worker cannot do it by themself. All of the issues that these kids come with, you've got to have a variety of information and you've got to be trained on them enough to recognize it. You know, one of the things that was talked about in the video was the importance of the steering committee, it connects from the top down to the bottom. I wonder if I can come to you, Errika, with this one -- let's talk about the steering committee, what does the steering committee do? Sure, the steering committee's role is really they're the heavy hitters, I would say -- your chief of police is on your steering committee, people -- your chief probation officer's on your steering committee, CEOs of organizations are on your steering committee. Those are the ones that can really be able to get you the resources that you need. Again, we talked about funded programs, non- 6/6/06 25 funded programs, when you have good partners who are willing to say I will give you 50 slots at all my -- at my programs and your kids can come in, when you have a partner who has the authority to speak for an organization to do that, then you have a great partner. Also, they set the policy for your intervention -- your collaboratives you're trying to do. They help to understand what the line staff are dealing with -- the line staff can bring the steering committee issues and barriers that they're dealing with -- and the steering committee because of their positions are able to make those calls, make those transitions, be the champion for this program that you need and get the line staff, the resources that they need. Okay, what's Pittsburgh, doing about adopting the model? We'll I mean, we're in our third year and we really love the model. I mean I get so excited about the model. We have an excellent steering committee. I talk about our new United States Attorney sits on our steering committee. I've talked about the DA's Office, I talked about the YMCA -- all of these people are sitting at our steering committee. It sits in the middle of the school district. To me, I've done other programs where we work with serious violent offenders et cetera, but I haven't worked with a program that has actually brought together these key players who have bought into this project and we are moving it forward in Pittsburgh. Victor? You know, doing gangs for almost 17 years, now that I'm thinking about it, we were doing a lot of these things informally. And, you know, one thing I've learned over all of the years I've been doing this, you've got to get better at working smarter not harder. And this model actually gives us a lot to be able to explain to other people and educate other people about how this thing works because a lot of people sometimes are lost. They don't know what to do with gang violence and how do we impact it. And I think being able to articulate the model at the different locations and the different people we need to address it to, it makes a lot of sense and it makes it easier for us. And in Houston, we're adopting a lot of these things and we're practicing it in our office currently. And hoping that the mayor is going to continue to look and see the office and the work that we're doin' to be able to implement it and look at it citywide. 6/6/06 26 Okay, Errika? The other thing about this model, it really takes the outreach component. There are outreach components that been done, you know, without this type of support but it really takes the outreach component and really places it in its proper place and really puts it in the middle and actually gives those outreach workers those resources they need to really change young people's lives who are involved in gangs. Okay, and again, this model is on the website DOJConnect.com. Scott, why don't we come to you. Let's talk about the infrastructure of the model. Well, I think it begins for me with the assessment piece that we talked about before and with knowledge. I liken the gang intervention process to almost a medical intervention. If you want to the doctor and the doctor said, "Well, we've never tried this before, but it sounds like you ought to be taking this medication or we're going to be doing this surgery to ya," I suspect we'd all be out that door pretty quickly. We ought to ask for the same level of certainty and clarity in what are perhaps equally important interventions against gang crime, against delinquency. I think most importantly, to help young people have healthy and productive lives. So, one key for me is that assessment both of the community as well as individuals and to make sure that local communities tailor their responses to the particular nature of the problem that exists in that community, rather than some fixed image of a gang problem that might exist in the media somewhere or might exist in a movie somewhere, but really doesn't exist on the ground. The way you do good assessment is to use validated and reliable assessment tools like are on the web at the OJJDP and COPS websites. You get input from a variety of groups and you build that input to form a base of knowledge from which your intervention comes. But then you've got to monitor it on a regular basis. You can't say, "We've got it solved now, we'll just do this for the next ten years," because your gang problem is going to change hopefully, as your intervention gets more effective that will help to change the problem a little bit. Joe? And I think if you're looking at the things you're looking at -- Errika, from Pittsburgh, Victor, from Houston, when you saw on the screen that these cities that they come from -- but I think that you have to remember here that this model will work in any size community. It's not geared just for a large community, but a sized community as long as you adhere to the model, the outcome will look a little different depending on the size of the community and what the resources are in the community, but the model, if you adhere to the model, you should have success. 6/6/06 27 Okay, what about the leadership that's needed? Well, I think Errika mentioned the key role of the heavy hitters... Project Safe Neighborhoods, for example, that have -- that has U.S. Attorneys and district attorneys and police chiefs and probation directors -- they have to be there to send the symbolic message but also the other message that this will be done and produce accountability. But the other key leaders are the leaders on the street. And it might be a sergeant or it might be a lieutenant in a police department. It might be a probation supervisor. It might be a deputy juvenile officer in the juvenile court. So there's two levels of leadership that have to be present. I think you can break it down even further -- parents can come together and create a committee of its own and identify what its community needs. And I'll tell you what, there will -- they make the noise they're gonna get attention. When you have a lot of moms, a lot of dads that are out there that are saying, "We don't want this in our community. We're gonna create our own little committee that is similar to the steering committee and we want things done out here. And I need you, and I need you, and I need you. And I need you come, we're gonna host a meeting." Sometimes parents can do a lot of good things and people in the community can really make noise to get really people to the table. You heard us talk a lot about the assessment process and that, but remember, like Victor says, the parents are very, very important in the assessment process also. Whenever we start up a gang prevention and intervention approach in any community, we always do focus groups with parents to ask them what is going on from their perspective. You ask the youth what is going on from their perspective in the community. They should really know. They are right there on the street with this thing. They got the knowledge of what's going on. So, make sure you get those people and get their perspective in also. And Joe, I mean you basically, just stole that answer right from me. But I do want to just enhance on it. I want to say that young people can also be very instrumental. I mean a lot -- we start talking and we start talking about providing services to them. But we also need to talk about they can actually be 6/6/06 28 leaders to us in this whole process as well. We're working on a youth council right now. We actually, on our steering committee have two slots for young people. But, what has happened is sometimes we don't prepare those young people to be able to sit at that level. So we're gonna go back now; we're gonna do some training, we're gonna do some developing and we're gonna bring those young people back out. So they can help you, help themselves. That's key -- they have all the insight. I mean when my line staff hits the street, the first thing we're going to is the kids. "What's happening out here? I've already heard from a principal, I already heard from the officer, I already heard from the parent -- What's going down for real, man; what's happening?" And they sit there and they explain to you what's going on and they give you a totally different perspective. I mean, you've got to have them at the table, they're just as important from the community standpoint perspective. Right. Young people forgive us for taking so long to get to you. We do realize you are very, very important. Right; young people, you are important. Okay, well, structured, good quality, early-learning experiences for young children are shown to have big payoffs in crime prevention, especially when combined with comprehensive family services. The gang reduction program in the city of Los Angeles, incorporates a comprehensive approach to reducing youth gang crime and violence including an inventory and integration of existing community services, coordination of local, state, and federal resources, and the application of best practices primary and secondary prevention. The GRP has implemented an innovative one-stop community center that targets all children and families living in the area. It provides prenatal and infancy support, truancy and dropout prevention, and afterschool and summer programs, employment services, and referrals. Secondary prevention services target high-risk youth, ages seven to 14, and provide focused services to avoid a pattern of increasing anti-social behavior and gang involvement. Services include intensive case management, mentoring for 6/6/06 29 young males, gang awareness, training for parents and the community, and afterschool and recreational activities. Let's take a look now, at what Los Angeles has done. (police radio) The street that we're -- that you're looking at is 8th Street; but, 8th Street and VNE, Varrio Nuevo, are enemies. So, anything that has an "8" on it, VNE is going to crossout in their neighborhood. So this is VNE's neighborhood, don't come here, don't come near me, this is my hood, this is my area, we hate 8th Street, you come here you're dead. Gang reduction program area is a -- it encompasses four gangs, basically. The gangs are a VNE, Varrio Nuevo Estrada; the other gang we'll be going to shortly is the 8th Street Gang they encompass Ivanwood. Another gang that we'll -- that GRP works with is the Opal Street Gang and then some of the White Fence Gang as well. Boyle Heights is five miles square; 200,000 people live in this East Los Angeles neighborhood with more than 7,000 documented gang members. Per capita, that gives the Hollenbeck division of the Los Angeles Police Department more gangs to suppress than in any other police division in L.A. Suppression does work, I mean, we're taking some of the most violent criminals in Los Angeles off the street and putting them behind bars where they belong. So, what we do works but it's not the answer -- it's not the only answer. It's like I said, a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. We look at it, yeah, we're still going to take thug to jail -- we're still going to put that guy behind bars, but we're also going to take time and refer them to -- give them some options other than the options that they face in just thug life and this project life that they live in. The gang reduction program in Boyle Heights now in its first year, looks with compassion on the community's investment as well as its needs for young people. 6/6/06 30 These are just generations of gangs, families of gangs. Mainly in the Estrada Courts -- the VNE, Varrio Nuevo Estrada, and the 8th Street Gang. Kids are kind of born into it and it is a way of life for them. But I think, if given the chance, these kids have the potential to succeed. They have the potential to go to college, you know, complete their bachelor's degree, go to a four-year university, to capture the American dream. And all they need is a little motivation, all they need is a little assistance. If our program can do that for them, then I think, you know, we're successful. I am 24 years old, I've been locked up seven years, and I have been in the system since I was ten years old. In this first phase of the gang reduction program, several intervention programs have been implemented. One of those programs is called Get It Straight. The Get It Straight program is a early intervention program for at-risk fifth grade students. It's really targeting those youth that are already exhibiting risk behaviors and essentially exhibiting a cry for help already. What about you sir, why do you think you came here today? So I could learn more about not being a gangster. Not being a gangster and making better choices. Okay, because even as young as you all are you can make better choices that's what it's all about. 'Cause they made the bad choices and they're here; and they're here today to talk to you guys, so you guys can now make better choices. So, you don't have to end up where they've ended up. The Get It Straight program is a violence prevention and intervention program for at-risk students at Deena Elementary school which straddles the line between two competing youth gangs. I'm -- Rivera, I'm locked up for second degree murder; I've been locked up since the age of 15, I am 22 years old now. I've been in the system since nine years old. ...I have been incarcerated for almost nine years and I came into the system when I was 13 -- '97. I started gang banging at 11 years old, wanted acceptance from my peers... They bring in individuals who have been there, done that. Former gang members, former drug addicts, to let them know that this is a possibility for them, that they did start this young and that they never saw this life for themselves. And that if they could go back, they would change or make different choices in their lives. When you guys go home, make sure you let your parents know that you love them and that you're gonna listen to them. And you're gonna do good in school. And you're gonna make them happy; how many of you guys are going to promise me that? 6/6/06 31 Overall, the goal of GRPLA is to provide our kids with opportunities. Opportunities for them to succeed, in spite of everything that is going against them, whether it be at home, at school, in the community. So, does this neighborhood have a chance? You bet it does. For the most part, crime is down here. So, those numbers are really amazing; I look at all of the stats as does GRP and things are getting better. We've got to get all partners involved, not just the faith-based community, not just nonprofit organizations, but we also have to get law enforcement involved, the city attorney's office involved and convince them that our kids are worth saving. If we can work together, to provide those services as opposed to incarcerating them or prosecuting them, then we can begin to help our youth. So, it's just getting them to the table and for them to agree that our kids deserve a chance. All right, welcome back. Joe, when a community finally admits that they had a gang problem, what do they do? Well, Doris, speaking from 27 years in law enforcement, what usually happens is the mayor gets involved and calls the police chief and tells the police chief he wants him to take care of the gang problem. Which really doesn't have the effect we want it to have. We can talk about community policing which is great, and we try to get out there and do community policing. There is a number of things we've done in community policing models with CERA's models and different models, but the whole thing is that you to have to get the community involved. The police department knows this in most cases now and will start working with community agencies like you've talked about here and the fact that we have to get other people involved. It's not just a police problem. Police, it's -- the main objective of the police department is the suppression aspect -- take the big hitters off of the street, lock them up and take that away. But you still got the problem. 6/6/06 32 Well, it says at the beginning of the video, they were saying suppression works but it is not the answer. You've got to give them options. That is correct and the options are you've got a lot of community agencies out there that have a lot of good operations going that can help out in all of these different areas. And there's not just one need, there's many needs out there. Why we have gangs, why the kids are getting involved in that and those things have to be addressed by community agencies and the community in the whole. Okay, we have a couple of questions here; let me start -- this one is from Tennessee. It says, "How are youth gangs in rural communities different; are there differences in prevention, intervention, and suppression efforts in a rural communities?" Errika? Well, first I want to say is that sometimes people -- first of all, in any situation you have to admit that you have a problem. I think a lot of times, those communities might have been slower in the past -- might have been slower in recognizing that, "I think that we really do have a gang the problem." The National Youth Gang Center has an excellent publication that is on there website it is www.iir.com/nygc/ -- I mean you can Google it. And they have an excellent publication that talks about gangs in rural areas and how you have to mobilize in order to combat that issue. And it's basically, the model. Again, the model works anywhere. Scott? I think, you know, Errika's point underscores one of the things we've been saying today and that is there is help for local communities. Your not going to have to invent a response or an assessment model or a community assessment model from scratch here. Between the COPS Office website and the OJJDP Office website, there's lots of resources for about any problem related to gangs -- identifying it, how you respond to it, how you deal with prison gangs -- a variety of the issues that you can go to for help. But you can't just take those off the shelf like software and plug it in to your local community. They have to be adapted to the characteristics of where you are and what your problem is. 6/6/06 33 All right, let's take another question. "Is there an increase in younger children and teen girls who are joining gangs?" Well, the data from the National Youth Gangs Center, which we've got good time -- overtime trend data, show that gang membership and the number of gangs has been declining, albeit slightly, over the course of the last several years. And that's, that's the good news. This also occurs at a time when violent crime rates measured either through the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports or through the National Crime Victimization Survey, show that the rates of violent crime are declining and have been doing so for a long time and the survey data show that violent crime is as low as it has been in the last eight or ten years. That's the good news. We always need to be concerned about a gang membership at young ages. And I think if we refer back to that response pyramid, that we showed earlier in the show that's up at the DOJConnect.com that people can download and printout, that group at the bottom of the pyramid, the young people who are the objects of primary prevention and those who are getting secondary prevention who have begun to show some of the signs of membership are people we need to be concerned about because as a society, we value and we want to protect six, and seven, and eight, and nine, and ten year olds from a variety of things as they develop and as they mature so that they can mature and develop into productive citizens. I think in Houston, I know I've seen, we've seen an increase with our younger population. And that interest has always been there; you know, being in this field for so long, it never really goes away. But I think what happened was that for a little while we stopped addressing it. And when you stop addressing it well that has a tendency to distort numbers and statistics. But when you're on the ground and my Get outreach folks are on the ground running and I'm out doing presentations, I was ask more this year, our office was asked more this year to present at the elementary and intermediate school level than we have had in a long time. 'Cause the kids were experimenting and displaying gang related behaviors. The were aggressive, they were practicing gang signs, they were coming up with graffiti, making up their own little gang names, you know, were bullying kids and name calling and teasing -- there was a lot of that going on. And some of the kids had some bad grades and their attendance wasn't even that great. Parents were coming in not trying to be very forthcoming and we're trying to help. I still think it exists there with the little ones. We've got to stay on top of them -- I call them the little bittys -- you got to stay on top of them because they want to know how to stay away; just like they always want to know what it's about you can also teach them, 'cause they're just interested in that. 6/6/06 34 Okay, how can -- oh, Errika, you wanted to comment? And I also wanted to say that Dr. Scott Decker is talking about the national trends and while, I know we community people -- all the people who are listening and watching, some of them are probably saying, "Not my community!" It is possible that in certain communities that it could be going up, while, however, the nation is going down. So, I just wanted to just add that. And that's why early intervention is so important. And assessing your own community. I mean if the rest of the country is going down but you are that one city, you know, when New York homicide rates were going down and they dipped below those of Chicago the good news was for the country homicide was going down, the bad news was if you were the mayor or the police chief in Chicago, then you were all of a sudden in the spotlight. So, you need to assess your local problem, know where you stand and then respond to the nature of that problem. Just last week I was on the east coast and there is a community out there and it's not a real large community that had 15 shootings in a three day period, gang- related shootings. Now, when you've gotten to that extreme, you've got to really take some measures to do something about it. Hopefully, you can address these things before you get to that point where you got this type of activity and this type of real criminal activity going on. Would you say the community was in denial? Not anymore. Okay. (laughing) Errika, you wanted to comment? No. All right, well, let's take another question; this one is from Tampa, Florida. And the question is, "How can you tell the difference between a wannabe and a real gang member?" Victor, we'll start with you! Called a wannabe or gonnabe or whatever you called it. Obviously, when they're younger, they talk a lot. They're talking and bragging and trying to display the graffiti and the hand signs and they get to messing around. And I think what happens is, is that sometimes we 6/6/06 35 underestimate that little one. That little one, if you're not careful, will make it a point to try and show that he wants to become gang involved and he'll do whatever it takes. He'll be aggressive, he may bring a bandana to school, again the graffiti. His grades may not be as good, he may have poor attendance on occasion. He's starting to experiment with that. Your gang member is sometimes not even in school. And when he is in school, he is going to be out there just causing havoc. He's going to display the gang colors, he's probably going to have visible tattoos. He's probably going to be a leader or have influence on a group of people that cause violence in the community, on the campus -- the school campus. The level of activity is very, very -- it's a little bit more -- he's a little bit more active. And also, he is not going to talk much -- he don't talk much. His deal is to carry out the gang activity and the gang activity only they'll be running amok. I would really like to see us do away with the word "wannabe" out of the English language. Okay? I'm really, I'm afraid of that word because it seems that when you say a wannabe, people -- I mean they hear a lot, "Oh, he's just a wannabe." And like Victor said, you can have a lot more problems with just a wannabe then you have with a regular gang member in the fact that they are not using thoughts sometimes behind their actions and they just go ahead and do something just because it seems like the right thing to do at the time and they're going to cause more problems then the gang member actually in some cases. So, if we can do away with that and look at the fact that we have to treat those cases and look at them as far as prevention and intervention actually are concerned and get them away from that lifestyle. Errika? And I wanted to go back to that rural question. I think a lot of time young people who are in those rural communities, people just want to say, "Oh, they're just wannabees; they see tv, and they're trying to emulate what they see on tv." But we're finding out that there -- I think Victor, called them "gonnabees" are "now they are." Right. Scott? I worked with a community in the the late 1980s of which the police chief said, "We don't have real gang member here, because they're not Los Angeles Bloods and Crips." And I said, "Chief, there are in your local communities, Bloods and Crips." He said, "No, unless they are from L.A. or Chicago, they're not real gang to members." And I think that leads us to the denial issue. But there are other resources, I think, at an individual level. Parents may have the question, "How do I know that my son or daughter is gang involved?" And on the COPS website, there is a Parent's Reference Card that people can go to. It's on DOJConnect.com. Where 6/6/06 36 you can look for the signs that your child may be a gang member or may be getting close to becoming in a gang. Well, what are some of those signs? If I had my glasses on I would be able to read it. Okay, well, give them to Victor, he'll can read them. (laughter) Change in grades, new friends, misbehavior at home, having more cash than usual, wearing one particular color. And I think one of the things that the card illustrates is that we want to talk about this very clear line between a gang member and a non-gang member. And for many juveniles there is a period of experimentation with the lifestyle. And it's not like overnight they sign a piece of paper and they become a gang member. They become involved and they've done more activities. And so it is a gradual process. And for the intervention side, if we can recognize that early and intervene while they are in the early stages of becoming a gang member, we're gonna have fewer problems. I have a question then; when you see these young, young children moving towards gang activity, is it because things aren't well at home, they are being bullied someplace else, I mean, what is drawing them in at such an early age? I think community has a lot to do with it. Sometimes there's communities that are just infested with the gang, with the gang lifestyle and they become accustomed to just seeing it. Family tradition, you get a lot of siblings, older brothers, older sisters who may be involved in the gang and they just kind of -- the kids have kind of learned it. Or, it has been taught and it is expected. You know, "I came through the ranks and now it's your time to come through the ranks." I think it's a lot of -- a combination of those things. Family issues, the kid's not feeling part of family, parents not really understanding their own issues and never worked through their own issues. Substance abuse is a big factor. Mental health. I think there are so may different issues that come together with a family and these kids end up getting sucked in, however you want to call it, by accident or just by nature of engaging in it -- "It's what I want to do, I want to become a game member." 6/6/06 37 I think it's important that we keep in mind that adolescence is a period of experimentation, young people trying new things, they are becoming adults, they're breaking away from their family, they're breaking away from their parents. They are trying on their independence, so to speak. But adolescence is also a period when young people form groups and they become a part of groups and that is a normal behavior for adolescents. What we need to ensure is that the groups they belong to and the groups they become affiliated with are law abiding and not law violating. We, in the research community, talk about pulls -- and attractions towards joining the game: it may bring status, it may bring money, it may bring reputation. But there are also pushes. When young people experience school failure or when they experience family failure they may be pushed towards the gangs. So these pulls and pushes work together to induce gang membership for many individuals. We need to better understand what pulls and what pushes are at work in communities and for individuals and work on them to reduce the levels of gang membership. Okay, we have just a couple of minutes left. So, what I'd like to do as we wrap up our program today is to get closing comments from you all. What would you like to leave with our audience before we say goodbye -- Joe? I would like to make sure that people understand that a gang problem is a community problem. It is not just a police problem, a school problem, a civil -- a mayor problem or whatever. But gangs are going to do whatever the community will allow them to get by with. And when the community starts to step in and join together and do something, then they can have some effect on what the problems are. Errika? I also want to talk about that this is going to take time, building trust on your -- with all of the agencies on your steering committee does not happen overnight. We need to continue to work together in order to be effective. Okay, Victor? Don't quit. I think lots of times, you know, working gangs for so many years, it is easy to get frustrated. We can get frustrated easy. We can't quit. We may not have a problem today, but if you have a presence, you can certainly have a problem in a couple of weeks if you don't watch it. We need to stay out of denial mode. We need to start revisiting this gang activity that is taking part in our country, in our states -- our cities. I think we really need to start coming 6/6/06 38 together, we need to really put the egos down, and let's really sit down and discuss collectively, what is it that we can do to impact the gang activity that we're seeing. If we don't, we are going to be sorry and we got to really stay on top of that. Okay, Scott? I think we saw in the video from L.A., in the neighborhood there is a gang that has been present in that neighborhood, in Los Angeles, for at least 60 years. So, we didn't get into these problems overnight or last week or last year. And we're probably not going to get out of them in the very short-term future. What that says is that we need to better understand the problems, we need to change the systems that respond to gang problems, and as my colleagues have said so well, we need to stay the course on this problem for the next several years to come in order to ensure that the next generation of youth will be productive citizens and productive taxpayers. All right; well, thank you all very much. Thank you for being with us; and just a reminder, all of the things we've talked about -- the resources you can find on DOJConnect.com. Again, I'd like to thank our guests who appeared on our program today. I'd like to thank you all for -- who tuned in to view this broadcast as well as the U.S. Attorney's Offices, and other locations around the country that hosted the townhall gathering. For all of these efforts and for your committment to sharing this vital information, we say thank you. This reminder also: we'll be holding a webcast on a variety of other topics. The next program is entitled, "A Community Partnership Approach to Addressing Meth." It's going to be held on Tuesday, August 22, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. You can see the times and topics for all of our coming programs at our website: dojconnect.com. I'm Doris McMillon, thank you so much for joining us. This program is brought to you by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.