Police take anti-gang message into schools

KELLY MONITZ
Staff Writer

Hazleton police didn’t sit idly by as gangs moved into the area, set up shop and began recruiting new members from the community, the police chief said. Chief Robert Ferdinand sent officers for training and they began going into the schools to teach children how to avoid gangs, drugs and peer pressure through the Gang Resistance Education and Training program.

Officer Brian Schoonmaker has presented the 13-week course to sixth-graders at Heights-Terrace Elementary/Middle School.

“The first year we ran it, we had great success,” he said. “It tries to teach kids a little more community involvement and responsibility for themselves and their own communities and each other.”

At the end of the program, the students – ages 11 to 13 – came up with a community service project and worked together to clean up a neighborhood, Schoonmaker said.
The kids also learned about making decisions and the impact of their decisions, he said.

Most kids don’t realize the affect joining a gang could have on the rest of their lives, said Jared Lewis, a nationally known gang expert. Many people believe the only end for a gangster is death or prison, but that’s not always the case.

Many gangsters put their lives on hold for the gang, quitting school and limiting their opportunities to be successful later in life, he said.

“Some wake up and want to make a life for themselves,” Lewis said, adding that it’s often too late for them.

Without schooling or skills, those that work end up in low paying jobs or they rely on government assistance or their girlfriend or wife to support them, he said.

And it all started with that one decision.

In the G.R.E.A.T. program, students are given different scenarios and asked what they would do, and work on ways to avoid succumbing to peer pressure, Schoonmaker said.

One of his students did find himself in a house where an underage party was taking place, but he didn’t take part, he said. His older sister, who was babysitting, had the party, Schoonmaker said.

“He was sitting in his room playing his Playstation, door closed ignoring everything else in the world,” he said. “So, I think it takes a good effect on them.

Teachers at the school told Schoonmaker that they had seen a change in their students since they participated in the program as well.

Heights-Terrace Principal Francis X. Antonelli can’t say if the program will keep the students out of gangs, but noted it would be interesting to track their progress.

“Our kids are more aware certainly,” he said. “They are more aware of gangs in this area. Are they less likely to join a gang? We like to think that they are.”

Antonelli believes the success of the program lies with the officer presenting it, and praised Schoonmaker’s ability to connect with the students. A number of students asked about the officer this year, Antonelli added.

The program wasn’t presented this year due to an injury that Schoonmaker sustained in the line of duty. However, he hopes to start up the program again in the fall, and if funding is available, maybe additional officers can be trained, he said.