GANG RESISTANCE PILOT PROGRAM BEGINS APRIL 27

Cape Girardeau police officers Charlie Herbst and Ike Hammonds spent two weeks in Phoenix recently learning how to be loud and clear about a G.R.E.A.T. program.

Their success will be measured by the silence of gang activity and juvenile crime in Southeast Missouri.

Herbst and Hammonds plan to take the information they absorbed during the intense Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) seminar into their first four-week, 100-hour pilot program at the May Greene Elementary School's fifth-grade class, beginning April 27.

"We don't expect to reach everyone the first time around, but this is a good enough program that it should work well with DARE and Project Charlie," Hammonds said. "There are positive and consistent messages that link the three of them together."

The reason Herbst and Hammonds selected May Greene as the school for the pilot project is because they are on familiar turf.

"We know a lot of the kids from the work we've done there, so it is the most logical choice," Herbst said. "We're not identifying it as a school with gang problems or anything."

The tandem will embark on a nine-week course with seventh-graders and fourth- and fifth-grade classes in Cape Girardeau next fall.

"We felt like we needed to iron out the kinks with this pilot program to get an idea where we stand before starting with the more extensive program next fall," Herbst said.

The GREAT project began in Phoenix in 1991 when representatives from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms contacted agencies in the Phoenix area to implement a gang resistance program.

Police officers from valley agencies with extensive backgrounds in teaching crime prevention combined their efforts with a middle school principal and began developing the school-based component.

The program's goal is to reduce gang activity and to educate a population of young people about the consequences of gang involvement.

"There is evidence that there has been gang activity here, but we don't think it's that bad," Herbst said. "One of the reasons for a program like this is to prevent a gang problem from getting started."

Because both Herbst and Hammonds are designated as community police officers, whose hours are more flexible than others in the Cape Girardeau Police Department, they were the most logical pair to send for training.

The GREAT program is designed to help seventh-graders become responsible members of their communities by setting goals, resisting pressure, learning how to resolve conflicts and understanding how gangs impact the quality of their life.

Hammonds said part of the curriculum involves blocking out the mystique of gangs and gang-like activity and elevating the importance of finding affection, self-esteem and the power to resolve conflicts within the true family structure.

"The idea is not to name names or talk about this gang or that one," Hammonds said. "We want to keep from giving gangs a legitimate function and purpose," adding:

"The reason someone might want to join a gang in the first place is because something is missing at home. We want to talk about the importance of filling that void without going to a gang."

The GREAT instructors hope to dispel some myths and stereotypes about gangs.

"Just because you see a kid walking down the street with a Starter jacket doesn't automatically mean he is a member of a gang," Hammonds said. "You've got to look beyond that and see what this person is like and how he interacts with his peers and family."

Some material that will be used for the GREAT program has been made possible through a $500 donation from the Cape Girardeau County Women of Law Enforcement Officers.

"We also hope to get some money through a grant Chief (Howard) Boyd is seeking," Herbst said.