1	Officials Working Group Freeport Public Schools & Village of Freeport What Can the Freeport Community do About Gangs?
2	Today’s Agenda Introduction Goals and Objectives Definition of Gangs Who Joins Gangs? Why Do Children Join Gangs? Local gang situation Community Involvement Recommendations for Parents/Family Questions and Answers
3	What is the Officials Working Group? Almost two years ago, a group of local community leaders were invited by the Superintendent of Schools to develop a strategy for: Initiating a dialogue to address gangs as a community issue Preventing student involvement in gangs Exploring alternate constructive activities for youth Increasing collaboration among various community agencies
4	Officials Working Group Superintendent of Schools, Chair Mayor Chief of Police and Freeport Police Officers Freeport Board of Education members Freeport Village Trustees Nassau County District Attorney’s Office Parents Clergy & Representatives of Churches Director of Recreation Center Community Youth Organization (Operation Pride, EOC, ETS, JAM) Freeport Public Schools administration and staff Youth Organizations Community Agencies Sub-Committees Awareness Recruitment and Programs Research and Intervention
5	What is a Gang? According to the Nassau County Police Department, a gang is a group of three or more individuals who gather together under a common label or name for committing illicit/criminal acts.
6	What is a Gang Member? In Nassau County, gang members are “persons who have been attributed to more than one indicator as belonging to a gang, for example, personal admission, tattoos, association with known gang members.”
7	How are Gangs Structured? Gang affiliation is based predominantly on race and, ethnicity / culture / national origin. There is little organizational connection between the gangs on the East Coast and on the West Coast. The major Nassau County gangs, are the Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Salvadorians with Pride (SWP), Aryan Brotherhood, and Hells Angels. Most Nassau County gangs are loosely organized, unlike their West Coast counterparts. Some Hispanic gangs have strong national affiliations and are more tightly organized.
8	Who are Gang Members? Potentials or Could-be’s: 7-10 years old non-gang members. Claimers, Associates or Wannabes: 11-13 years old, not official members, but act and claim membership. Regulars: 14-17 years old, initiated, back up hard core members. Hard-core: 16 and over, very influential.
9	Why Do Children Join Gangs? Some of the factors include, but are not limited to: Social, cultural and/or linguistic isolation Disassociation with mainstream culture Disenfranchisement and alienation Lack of effective parental/guardian involvement Children that have been exposed to: Family dysfunction (abuse, drugs, alcohol, etc.) Family members who are in gangs Trauma at home Poverty
10	Why, cont’d Absence of positive adult influences Peer pressure Protection
11	What do Children Get From Joining a Gang? A sense of power and prestige Friendship and/or brotherhood Protection and/or security Fast material gain (money) Sense of being part of glorified culture Sense of family-type structure
12	How do Gangs Recruit? Peer pressure Intimidation Glorification of lifestyle - making kids feel that they’ll belong to a “family”, have friends, go to parties and make money.
13	Local Gang-Related Activity In 2002, there were 42 gang-related incidents investigated by the police. There are currently 80 gang-related incidents pending prosecution in Nassau County. There are approximately 2500 identified gang members in Nassau County
14	Local Gang-Related Activity, cont’d. Determining “hard” numbers is difficult. The impact is much greater than the numbers indicate. Arrests increasingly involve violent crimes such as robbery and assault, as well as drug dealing and extortion. Prosecutions are a fraction of gang-related incidents.
15	Indicators of Gang Activity Graffiti Clothing Vandalism Fighting Drug trafficking Criminal and violent activity Groups of youth engaging in dangerous activity
16	Gang Identifiers Specific brands of clothing Logos Tattoos Clothing worn in a pre-defined way Hand signals Symbols formed and flashed with fingers, hands or other body parts Gang-centered media (magazines, websites, music)
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23	What Can the Freeport Community Do About Gangs? Heightened Awareness and Education Community Involvement Interagency Collaboration
24	Community Involvement Community involvement is a proven way to enhance resilience of at-risk youth by helping them establish connections, experience a sense of pride, find local alternatives to gang association, and explore their potential as productive community members of their school community, their local geographic community, and their racial /ethnic community.
25	Interagency Collaboration Local Police Department Clergy/Church Organizations Support & Outside Services / Agencies Schools Parent Teacher Associations Peer/ Mentoring Advisory Groups District Attorney’s Office Local Government ( County, Town & Village)
26	Current Education Efforts Conflict resolution Drug and alcohol prevention Social emotional learning Parenting skills Police Mentoring Community-Wide Expectations
27	What can Individuals do About Gangs? Be alert Know the signs of potential gang activity Contact law enforcement, clergy or schools
28	What can Parents/Guardians do? Be sure that children are constructively engaged and supervised at all times. Know your children’s friends and their families. Set curfews. Organize activities with other parents.
29	What can Parents/Guardians do? COMMUNICATE OFTEN WITH YOUR CHILDREN. Let them know you’re interested in their schoolwork, friends, extra-curricular activities. Hold your children accountable. Be sure that they are in a supervised activity between 3 and 6 p.m.
30	Contact Information Freeport Police Department: Community Response Unit, 378-DRUG (3784) or 911 Freeport Public Schools: Eric L. Eversley, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools, 867-5205 eeversley@freeportschools.org
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32	Conclusion Our parents, schools and community must be partners in advocating for high academic and behavioral standards for all youth. Our youth need only be guided in the right direction supported once they begin the journey, and helped to make positive choices that contribute to their growth into healthy, productive members of our community.
33	Next Steps Continue to develop collaborative community efforts Continue awareness effort Update and distribute information about programs and services Collect and analyze data Engage students
34	"A GANG IS ONLY" A GANG IS ONLY AS STRONG AS THE COMMUNITY ALLOWS IT TO BE.
35	QUESTIONS?