Remember, prevention and education is the key to controlling gang involvement. Every community can work on solutions for the gang problem. Working constantly to identify new groups and their members is one course of action.
School Resource Officers (SRO) are a valuable source of information in this regard. In their daily association with young people, they often get news of gang activity before a major problem occurs. They are able to identify gang members by name, and through their connections in the school system, gather such vital information as current and former addresses, age, parents, guardians, siblings, etc. The School Resource Officer and the detective division can then begin to work together to neutralize and disband gang members. You can help reduce and prevent gang problems. You do not have to act alone. Many community leaders have started programs to defuse gang problems.

You can start by:

• Learning more about gangs.
• Sharpening your parent skills.
• Calling 911 when there is an emergency in your neighborhood. Don't be afraid to get involved.
• Contacting your local law enforcement agency. Many agencies have gang units to help educate and help gang members become independent of gangs.
• Organizing a Neighborhood Watch Program. Silence gives a gang power. The fear and intimidation of a gang can be stopped when citizens unite to stop gang crime and violence by reporting it.
• Starting a Graffiti Clean-Up Program. Get rid of gang graffiti. Paint murals over it. Get the children in the neighborhood to help. This way they will not allow it to be marked again.

Youth hanging around on street corners, after school and at video arcades provide a perfect setting for gangs. Communities can offer alternatives to gang involvement. This involves organized activities for children and teenagers through the recreation department, parks and wildlife department, schools, churches, youth organizations and law enforcement agencies. Local businesses can offer part-time jobs to help teens become financially stable. The community can:

• Ensure that children have plenty of recreational and after school programs.
• Encourage self-esteem teens by providing after school job training and job opportunities.
• Work with your school, law enforcement, religious, city and business leaders to ensure that children are provided with a safe place for social and recreational activities.
• Encourage older youth to work with younger youth in recreational activities, youth groups, and sports leagues. Junior high and high school students make excellent assistant football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and cheerleading coaches. Not only does this help keep them out of gangs, this gives the younger children an excellent role model.
• Provide gang prevention and intervention training.
• Provide counseling services and support groups for youth.
• Conduct an accurate and honest assessment of gang activities and problems in the community and schools. Share information among parents, residents, law enforcement and school officials. Develop positive programs that address the needs of your schools and community.
• Develop a school and law enforcement partnership to promote safe schools.
• Start before and after school programs and weekend programs at the schools to give students a safe place for studying, tutoring, and social and recreational activities.
• Start drop-out prevention programs. By working together we can end the violence. By developing a community wide interest in solving the problems that give rise to gang activity we can end the problem. Our greatest hope is prevention, for only by keeping children from joining gangs in the first place will we be able to stem the rising tide of gang violence.

Reprinted from Winning the War against Gangs, compliments of the International Drug Education Association. Permission to reprint granted by L. A. W. Publications.