Youth Violence & Gang Prevention
Gangs gaining power in suburbs
Click here for the article!
By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON
jfitzgib@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
WHITE PLAINS — A 34-year-old man is stomped in a graphic videotape, suffering a brain injury outside a Spring Valley convenience store because he didn't move his car to make room for a gang member's SUV.
An upstate teenage girl displays gang tattoos on her breasts in a photograph and tells a counselor her initiation involved having sex with seven gang members when she was 11 years old.
Other photos show youngsters whose faces were disfigured by razor blades, knives and even a machete in gang attacks.
The images are from yesterday's first Westchester County Youth Violence Summit, and they highlight what officials call a growing trend in the Lower Hudson Valley — gangs in the suburbs.
"For a long time we said it couldn't come here," county Assistant District Attorney Andy Grascia said at one of 14 seminars at the summit. "But are we immune to these problems?"
"It's a community-based problem," Grascia said. "It's our young kids."
Sponsored by District Attorney Janet DiFiore and County Executive Andrew Spano, the all-day summit drew more than 400 educators, social-service workers and law-enforcement officials from throughout the state to the Westchester County Center.
"We're here because we're hoping to get more information," said Lisa Velazquez, a caseworker at Arms Acres, a Carmel treatment center. "I'd call it an epidemic that's going around."
Since 1998, the Westchester district attorney's office has identified some 30 gangs in the county with about 1,500 members, DiFiore said. She said more than 900 gang-related cases have been referred to her office for prosecution during that time.
"People in Westchester — throughout Westchester County — have to realize this is not a localized problem that affects only urban areas," said Spano. "It affects everybody. The suburbs, rural areas, are not exempt from it."
And the cost of gang activity is staggering, said keynote speaker Greg Owens of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Development at the state Office of Children and Family Services. Owens said gang violence costs the nation as much as $425 billion, including $90 billion in criminal-justice costs and $65 billion in security and protection.
He said the strategy has to involve targeting kids who were tempted but avoided gangs; kids who joined gangs; and kids who were able to walk away from them after joining. And they must be approached individually, through family and peer groups, and in school and the community.
"If we're going to be involved in leadership work, we not only have to teach, we have to learn," Owens said. "And we need to work vigorously to remove the reasons that gangs exist."
Ron "Cook" Barrett, an Albany gang-prevention expert, said identifying gangs and preventing their growth requires some savvy — and some education.
"Throw colors out the door. Real gangs move in silence," he said. "Being proactive today is understanding that times have changed."
Gangs are identified by slang words, hand gestures, tattoos and fashion, and they mark their presence through graffiti. White children are one of the largest growing segments of gang membership, as are all girls in general.
The increase in gang violence has left few corners of Westchester untouched, said Scarsdale Police Detective Matthew Miraglia.
"These kids have access to vehicles," Miraglia said. "They can go from one town to the next. And to think that gangs stay in just certain areas would be irresponsible on our part as law-enforcement officers."
For child-care and social-service workers — in many cases the front lines of the war on gangs — the task is more about prevention and intervention. And that, many said, requires real commitment.
"There has to be a passion," said summit participant Al Garrison, a youth worker with Family Services of Westchester. "If you're working with kids, it can't be for the money. It has to come from the heart."
Click here for the article!
By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON
jfitzgib@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
WHITE PLAINS — A 34-year-old man is stomped in a graphic videotape, suffering a brain injury outside a Spring Valley convenience store because he didn't move his car to make room for a gang member's SUV.
An upstate teenage girl displays gang tattoos on her breasts in a photograph and tells a counselor her initiation involved having sex with seven gang members when she was 11 years old.
Other photos show youngsters whose faces were disfigured by razor blades, knives and even a machete in gang attacks.
The images are from yesterday's first Westchester County Youth Violence Summit, and they highlight what officials call a growing trend in the Lower Hudson Valley — gangs in the suburbs.
"For a long time we said it couldn't come here," county Assistant District Attorney Andy Grascia said at one of 14 seminars at the summit. "But are we immune to these problems?"
"It's a community-based problem," Grascia said. "It's our young kids."
Sponsored by District Attorney Janet DiFiore and County Executive Andrew Spano, the all-day summit drew more than 400 educators, social-service workers and law-enforcement officials from throughout the state to the Westchester County Center.
"We're here because we're hoping to get more information," said Lisa Velazquez, a caseworker at Arms Acres, a Carmel treatment center. "I'd call it an epidemic that's going around."
Since 1998, the Westchester district attorney's office has identified some 30 gangs in the county with about 1,500 members, DiFiore said. She said more than 900 gang-related cases have been referred to her office for prosecution during that time.
"People in Westchester — throughout Westchester County — have to realize this is not a localized problem that affects only urban areas," said Spano. "It affects everybody. The suburbs, rural areas, are not exempt from it."
And the cost of gang activity is staggering, said keynote speaker Greg Owens of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Development at the state Office of Children and Family Services. Owens said gang violence costs the nation as much as $425 billion, including $90 billion in criminal-justice costs and $65 billion in security and protection.
He said the strategy has to involve targeting kids who were tempted but avoided gangs; kids who joined gangs; and kids who were able to walk away from them after joining. And they must be approached individually, through family and peer groups, and in school and the community.
"If we're going to be involved in leadership work, we not only have to teach, we have to learn," Owens said. "And we need to work vigorously to remove the reasons that gangs exist."
Ron "Cook" Barrett, an Albany gang-prevention expert, said identifying gangs and preventing their growth requires some savvy — and some education.
"Throw colors out the door. Real gangs move in silence," he said. "Being proactive today is understanding that times have changed."
Gangs are identified by slang words, hand gestures, tattoos and fashion, and they mark their presence through graffiti. White children are one of the largest growing segments of gang membership, as are all girls in general.
The increase in gang violence has left few corners of Westchester untouched, said Scarsdale Police Detective Matthew Miraglia.
"These kids have access to vehicles," Miraglia said. "They can go from one town to the next. And to think that gangs stay in just certain areas would be irresponsible on our part as law-enforcement officers."
For child-care and social-service workers — in many cases the front lines of the war on gangs — the task is more about prevention and intervention. And that, many said, requires real commitment.
"There has to be a passion," said summit participant Al Garrison, a youth worker with Family Services of Westchester. "If you're working with kids, it can't be for the money. It has to come from the heart."
Click Here for a Related Article!
Check out Westchester County's Youth Violence & Prevention Website!
posted by Braye Cloud at
4:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home