PART 3: Filling the void: Cobb tackles criminal street gangs

Common wisdom says criminal street gang members need mentors, father figures to direct their energy in positive ways.

"When you peel back off the layers, the reason they join is they're looking for something that they're not getting, something that most of us get at home or in church or in the community," said Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds. "That's some type of acceptance, that's some type of support. In an odd way, it's love itself. Most of us, thankfully have a parent or parents that have provided it to us. Sometimes these kids are missing that in their life, and the shame of it is, once they get into the criminal justice system, it's extremely difficult for the system to offer them that."

Cobb Police Chief Mike Register agreed, speaking at a community forum with religious leaders late last year. He touted Cobb programs such as the Police Athletic League and the Cobb County Police Department Mentorship Program that aim to connect at-risk youths with adults who can point them in the right direction.

"You've got kids, 15, 16 years old, carrying a weapon out on the street, and all they've ever known is hardship their whole life," Register said. "They've never had anyone to say 'Son, I believe in you. I love you.' The only person that's ever believed in them is themselves."

At the same forum, many of the religious leaders said mentorship programs are the best approach to keep children from joining gangs.

Carla Loosier of Holy Family Catholic Church in Marietta pitched a Fulton County program called YES!Atlanta she thinks would be helpful in Cobb.

"They meet with the teens once a week and they mentor the students ... They make goals of their own, the students. 'I want to do better in school, I want to get along, improve my relationship with my parents.' ? The mentor helps the child meet their goals," she said.

Ben Williams, president of the Cobb Southern Christian Leadership Coalition, has his own mentorship program.

"What we found effective is we were able to make contact with a few guys we called O.G.s (original gangsters), who in fact still have influence in their communities," he said.

"And we have been able to work with them to help them redirect their influences. For example? establishing credibility in the community to make sure it's a safe zone? They don't equivocate, they're straight-up in their conversations with the young wannabes to try to move them onto another path."

Is mentorship the right approach?

Rebecca Petersen, a criminal justice professor at Kennesaw State University, is less sanguine about the mentorship approach.

"It's not a bad thing," she said. "There are millions of kids, and a significant number of boys in particular in Cobb and everyplace that need mentors... I even tell my students, especially my male students, 'Step up, be a mentor, even informally...' The idea is great, it's just that very few people will catch on to it... We need male mentors everywhere, not just for gang members. But they just don't seem to be there."

Petersen said she cannot think of a specific approach that has been shown to reduce gang activity among young people.

"At the top of my head, there's not a program that's been-this is part of the problem too-successfully implemented and evaluated over a long period of time that has been shown to quote-unquote work."

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recommends a multi-tiered approach to reducing gang activity, including role modeling and mentoring along with education and job training programs, after school programs, targeted police patrols and reentry programs for former members.

Cobb County residents affected by gang activity are trying.

In a phone interview after the forum, Williams said that in addition to the O.G. program, the Cobb SCLC has expanded its youth council to schools all over the county to let young people take the lead on ending gangs.

Race and perceptions of guilt

Williams also said it is important for young African Americans, especially men to understand how they are perceived by the police. He said everyone, including police officers, carries implicit biases and subconsciously judges people by their race.

"We have a thing that says how to interact with law enforcement," he said. "You have to be courteous, kind, this that and the other. Our outreach is educating our youth first. ? We will continue to try to save our children. We just need some help from others not to put them in a box before they can even get started."

Deane Bonner, executive director of the Cobb NAACP, said even though gangs can be found in Cobb neighborhoods of many ethnicities, children of color are judged more harshly than white children for the same behavior.

"You have four black boys socializing or just being black boys, they're a gang," she said. "Four white boys are buddies and pals. It's unbelievable the perception and what these kids have to go through based not on who they are, but who somebody thinks they are. It's really sad that our kids have to be subject to that type of scrutiny."

Speaking to Williams at the religious forum, Register said that sometimes police make mistakes, but he has full faith in the Cobb County Police Department to uphold the law without racial prejudice.

Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds expressed similar faith in his office in an emailed statement.

"I have a great deal of confidence in the Georgia Criminal Street Gang Statute which has passed constitutional muster in all challenges," he said. "I am just as confident that this office approaches each potential gang prosecution as a colorblind process. We are concerned with facts and law, nothing more, nothing less. The evidence, or lack thereof, dictates who we charge as gang members, not the color of the defendant's skin."

Family involvement

Guenevere Reed is a self-described community advocate who lives in Powder Springs.

A former special education teacher in Cobb County schools and a mother of three adult children, Reed has been involved with community-based organizations in Powder Springs, Marietta, Austell and Mableton.

She has experience with gang members, even welcoming some into her house. Reed said some of the young men in her neighborhood are now in prison for violent, gang-related crimes. When they were younger, she said she gave them food to eat when she knew money was tight at home.

"It breaks your heart," she said.

Reed said getting to know your children's friends is the first step to making sure they steer clear of gangs.

"(Parents) don't pay attention to who's the thug in the group," Reed said. "They've got to pay attention, because that thug is going to take your child to a passage of no return? They don't realize you can't come back from this kind of mistake. This kind of mistake will scar you for the rest of your life? Plus you get to hear everything that's going on? You hear which friend is the troublemaker, which friend is the big mouth, which friend has a Napoleonic complex, which friend is the idiot.' ? I don't hover, but I do like to see who their friends are. That's the key to parents not knowing their kids are in gangs."

Parents should not be afraid to be busybodies, she said. That includes looking through their children's rooms and phones, and if they notice a problem with one of their friends, don't hesitate to intervene.

"You pick up different traits in children, whether that child is needy, whether that child is lonely, whether there might be some substance abuse or other dysfunction going on in that family? Then you see how you can help. 'Here's a resource brochure. Weren't you talking about your mom needs her car fixed? I heard you say your dad's out of work?' When there's a need, you need to fill that void."