A Springdale parent explained well the reasoning behind an expanding effort in the local schools to educate young students about gangs -- and more.
"You've got to save them on the front end," said David Bates, speaking about police efforts to influence decision-making by kids who might be recruited into gangs.
Bates was quoted in a newspaper report this week about a city police program that will now be taught to all fifth- and seventh-graders in the Springdale School District.
It's call the Gang Resistance Education and Training program and is taught in many schools across the country.
That sort of education might not have been necessary once upon a time, especially not in a place like Springdale. But it is a worthwhile investment these days.
Springdale police have investigated four shootings this year that the police describe as gang-related, including some involving teenagers. Two of the shootings were fatal.
Obviously, this level of gang violence, while tragic, isn't like that reported in places like Chicago, where shootings may be in double digits in a weekend.
But it is a growing concern and has some Springdale neighborhoods on edge.
Trying to stop it early makes total sense.
Police Chief Mike Peters said recently that the department has approached policing challenge in different ways. The department has added more school resource officers and is actively monitoring social media as well as expanding this anti-gang education effort.
Begun in Phoenix in 1991, the program is administered through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Delinquency Prevention.
Springdale police had been teaching the program in a few of the city's schools but will now expand to all elementary and middle schools. In the past, only three officers were certified to teach it but nine more were certified this summer.
The program has multiple goals. It doesn't just target gangs but aims to help young people learn life skills so they can communicate, make good decisions and act responsibly.
Part of the effort is making them comfortable around police officers so young people will report what they see and hear in the schools and in their neighborhoods.
The anti-gang curriculum for elementary students is designed to help children say "no," set goals for themselves, stand up against bullying and avoid becoming a bully, according to a Phoenix police sergeant who teaches it.
In the middle schools, the curriculum again focuses on life skills like decision-making, controlling anger and calming others and gets into the myths and realities of gangs.
There is at least one study, reported in 2013, that suggests the program works.
The National Institute of Justice commissioned the study, which involved 3,820 students in 31 schools in seven cities. The University of Missouri-St. Louis conducted the interviews of students, teachers, school administrators and law enforcement.
They found students involved in the anti-gang education program reported more positive attitudes about police, less positive attitudes about gangs, more resistance to peer pressure, less anger and lower rates of gang membership.
That's encouraging. It is instruction that not all kids get at home. And it's coming from police officers in direct contact with kids.
Back a generation or two, interaction between school kids and police officers was limited to annual safety instruction sessions, generally done in school assemblies.
That changed big time with the introduction of school resource officers, who provide a daily presence in the schools. School districts typically share some of the cost with cities to put officers on campuses at least part of the day.
Springdale has for several years had 10 of its officers assigned to the duty and this year, thanks to a federal grant, has another seven working in the Springdale School District.
A $563,094 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will pay salaries and benefits for the seven offices for three years. They'll spend 75 percent of their time on school grounds and 25 percent in neighborhoods.
The city must continue to fund the new positions at least another year after the grant expires.
It will probably keep the program going much longer than that.
Commentary on 10/04/2015