Deputies Protect Schools' Turf

By LISA A. DAVIS The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2007

The boy showed up to a Pasco high school with a red eye. Not blood-shot red. His iris was actually red.

The boy used a red contact to signify his affiliation with the Bloods, a street gang that began in Los Angeles, said Detective Mike Jenkins of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Vice and Narcotics Unit.

"Of course, we made him remove it," Jenkins said.

Pasco schools have a zero-tolerance policy toward violence and gang activity, and wearing any gang paraphernalia is prohibited. Still, some students try to show affiliations by wearing items such as red or blue bandanas, shifting ball caps to the left or right or donning certain sports team merchandise.

Gang membership, particularly among youths, crosses all socioeconomic barriers, Jenkins said. Locally, teens from the affluent Trinity area have been claiming gang membership.

The reasons they join are numerous: lack of love, lack of money, lack of respect.

But the biggest reason, Jenkins said, is simple: "media glorification."

"What makes that media so dangerous is it often promotes a lifestyle of violence."

Gang leaders prey on the weak and the young, he said.

"You have kids in the elementary grade that are in gang activity," said Pasco sheriff's Sgt. James Law, who supervises middle school resource officers.

Children at the elementary level are drug-runners for older gang members, he said.

"They're very seductive in how they get kids involved," Law said of gang leaders.

The gang members latch on to the difficulties in a child's life and use the promise of a better one, luring them into their gang, he said.

"They want to be your family. They want to be your religion; they want to give you status."

To combat gangs, about five years ago Pasco schools incorporated the Gang Resistance Education and Training program targeting sixth-grade students. Funded by the school board and the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, the 13-lesson program taught by specially trained deputies guides students on how to make responsible decisions when faced with peer pressure, stress and the pressure to join gangs.

The program was developed in 1991 through a combined effort of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Phoenix Police Department. Since its inception, 8,000 law enforcement officers have been certified as instructors and more than 4 million students have graduated from the program.

During the 2005-06 school year, 1,100 students graduated from the program in Pasco, and more than 2,000 students are on target to graduate this year, said Law, who coordinates Pasco's program.

He expects more children to participate during a six-week program at five locations this summer.

"You're giving these students skills, and they're cultivating them. ... It makes them feel like, 'I can be myself; I can make my own decisions. I know right from wrong,'" Law said. "You surround them with as many positives as you can."

GREAT uses interactive and cooperative learning to engage the students on topics such as crime, drugs, victim rights, cultural sensitivity and conflict resolution.

School resource officers have seen an improved relationship with students who have gone through the gang resistance program. As a result, Law said, students feel more comfortable reporting activity they think is dangerous.

"It's a very positive program, and we're looking at possibly expanding further," he said. "Pasco County is really on the cutting edge with a lot of these programs. It's really a proactive approach."

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.