Hands-On Program Quashes N.Va. Gangs

For more than 10 years, the Alexandria police worked to combat gang violence by fostering ties, gathering intelligence, tracking activity and aggressively cleaning gang-related graffiti within 48 hours.

But officials soon learned that they could not arrest their way out of the gang-violence problem. So, with help from federal and local officials, the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force was created and began to focus on prevention and intervention as well.

In the five years since, police have reported a 30 percent decrease in gang activity.

"We want people in need to know that we're here, to see that there are services available," Mike Mackey, gang prevention coordinator for Alexandria, said of two public service announcements sponsored by the task force. "We don't want to horrify people or highlight gangs. We're just letting people know we're out here doing the work and finding solutions."

The anti-gang campaign's newest approach, the Intervention Prevention Education Program, is also its most effective, Mackey said.

That effort puts staff members on the streets -- talking to kids, getting to know them, finding after-school programs, sports teams or clubs for them to join and encouraging them to stay in school. The staff members work intensively with families, daily for the first three months, to help resolve issues that might leave youths feeling disconnected and more likely to join a gang.

"When we interviewed kids who were in jail for gang activity, we asked them what was the thing that would have kept them out of gangs. They all said, 'It would have taken just one adult to care about me,' because a gang becomes like a family," said Lillian Brooks, court services director in Alexandria. "When you take one kid at a time and spend the time, you do get more results."

In Alexandria alone, Brooks said, 30 youths are part of this hands-on program, with many more on the waiting list.

Brooks and others -- and the public service announcements -- cite a finding by the National Gang Crime Research Center that more than 80 percent of youths in gangs said they would get out if they had a choice and the right help.

The figure is more like 95 percent, if not higher, said Juan Pacheco, a former gang member who runs the Virginia chapter of Barrios Unidos (United Neighborhoods), which aims to prevent and intervene in gang violence. He said he supports the intervention strategy.

"Our ideology at Barrios Unidos says we cannot give up on young people. We cannot give up on gang members," Pacheco said of the group, which was founded in 1994. "They're young people that are searching. We can't just lock them up and throw away the key."

And to keep youths from even thinking about joining a gang, it is critical that they believe they have options for the future and that they are connected to positive places or organizations such as schools, churches or families, he said. But most of all, Pacheco said, they must have caring relationships.