Informing the Community, Using Education to Compete with Gangs
To fight gangs, cops arm parents with knowledge
By Jared Allen
jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
September 15, 2006
More than 60 North Nashville residents turned out Thursday night to learn how to spot gang activity that might be occurring under their own roofs.
For the last few months, the Metro Police Department’s anti-gang unit has been engaged in a high-stakes battle for the streets of Nashville.
Recognizing that Nashville’s gang problem was growing, the department in May unveiled Operation Safer Streets, an effort that teams up undercover anti-gang officers with precinct officers to hunt down gang activity.
Since then, police have made hundreds of arrests and interviewed even more suspected gang members, gathering valuable on-the-street intelligence.But throughout it all, police have stressed they cannot defeat gangs alone, and have pleaded with parents all over Nashville to join the fight.
That message appears to be a welcome one, as all of those North Nashville residents who on Thursday showed up to hear from the police waited more than 30 extra minutes for the presentation to start, without a single person leaving during that time.
Anti-gang officers make as many as five of these presentations a week, in which they educate community members and even other police departments about what gang trends, colors, language and hand signs are popular. The idea is for parents to be able to go back to their neighborhoods armed with their own weapons: inside information.
“The main thing is educating the parents so they can be aware and they can recognize gang involvement because it starts at home,” said Det. Dewayne Greene, who led Thursday’s gang awareness workshop.
“It’s things that parents see that they don’t even know that they’re seeing,” Greene said. “Afterward they can recognize, ‘Oh, I saw my son doing this or listening to this,’ or ‘I saw my daughter wearing this.’”
“It equips them with the most valuable information to be able to recognize gang activity in their area or in their surroundings,” he said. “And we’ve been very successful with the small amount of time that we’ve been doing this because we’ve gotten a lot of parents out to educate about these issues.”
North Nashville resident Connie Turner is the parent of three children, an 11-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 15 and 19.
She said she attended the program to learn how to better watch over her sons.
“There’s been some situations in the city that really concern me, especially involving African-American men,” Turner said. “And I have two young African-American men at home to look out for.”
Turner, though, is hoping the information she receives is supplemented with further cooperation and education from officers like Greene.
“After I get the information I want to know what to do with it,” she said. “I’ve heard different things like once you’re in [a gang] you can’t get out, so I want to find out what that’s all about.”
By Jared Allen
jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
September 15, 2006
More than 60 North Nashville residents turned out Thursday night to learn how to spot gang activity that might be occurring under their own roofs.
For the last few months, the Metro Police Department’s anti-gang unit has been engaged in a high-stakes battle for the streets of Nashville.
Recognizing that Nashville’s gang problem was growing, the department in May unveiled Operation Safer Streets, an effort that teams up undercover anti-gang officers with precinct officers to hunt down gang activity.
Since then, police have made hundreds of arrests and interviewed even more suspected gang members, gathering valuable on-the-street intelligence.But throughout it all, police have stressed they cannot defeat gangs alone, and have pleaded with parents all over Nashville to join the fight.
That message appears to be a welcome one, as all of those North Nashville residents who on Thursday showed up to hear from the police waited more than 30 extra minutes for the presentation to start, without a single person leaving during that time.
Anti-gang officers make as many as five of these presentations a week, in which they educate community members and even other police departments about what gang trends, colors, language and hand signs are popular. The idea is for parents to be able to go back to their neighborhoods armed with their own weapons: inside information.
“The main thing is educating the parents so they can be aware and they can recognize gang involvement because it starts at home,” said Det. Dewayne Greene, who led Thursday’s gang awareness workshop.
“It’s things that parents see that they don’t even know that they’re seeing,” Greene said. “Afterward they can recognize, ‘Oh, I saw my son doing this or listening to this,’ or ‘I saw my daughter wearing this.’”
“It equips them with the most valuable information to be able to recognize gang activity in their area or in their surroundings,” he said. “And we’ve been very successful with the small amount of time that we’ve been doing this because we’ve gotten a lot of parents out to educate about these issues.”
North Nashville resident Connie Turner is the parent of three children, an 11-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 15 and 19.
She said she attended the program to learn how to better watch over her sons.
“There’s been some situations in the city that really concern me, especially involving African-American men,” Turner said. “And I have two young African-American men at home to look out for.”
Turner, though, is hoping the information she receives is supplemented with further cooperation and education from officers like Greene.
“After I get the information I want to know what to do with it,” she said. “I’ve heard different things like once you’re in [a gang] you can’t get out, so I want to find out what that’s all about.”
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