MEMPHIS -- The Memphis City School System is fighting gangs a new way. They're teaming up with police, community groups, and the Department of Social Services to form "full intervention teams" to pull students from the clutch of gangs.
"Hopefully we can change some young people's direction and move them away from gang activity and toward a better path,” said District Attorney Bill Gibbons.
The program is called G.R.A.S.S.Y. (Gang Reduction Assistance for Saving Society’s Youth), and will start in January at Trezevant and Frayser High Schools in North Memphis.
“Those are two schools where frankly we've had a fair high level of gang involvement based on what we hear from law enforcement and we thought those would be two good schools to start with,” Gibbons said. “We're not singling out those two schools, but we had to start with some, and we thought those were two good ones.”
As part of the program, intervention teams will meet weekly with teens to steer them into productive programs on and off campus. The teams will include representatives from Memphis police, the Attorney General’s Office, the school system, juvenile courts, the Department of Social Services, and the Urban Youth Initiative.
“Law enforcement can't do it by themselves, and it’s going to take all of us working together,” said Gibbons. “The faith community leadership is a very critical part of that.”
The new effort is part of the school system's "Operation: Safe Community” program, which started last year in 15 schools, according to Ron Pope, the school system’s coordinator of gang prevention and intervention programs. He said 150 students participate.
“We’ve seen a 71 percent decrease in gang activity among children in the program,” Pope said, noting that the “full intervention team” strategy may expand to other schools.
Parents like Randy and Wanda Moore agree leadership needs to come from the home as well.
"That's good the school system is doing that to help the kids stay out of gangs, because gangs aren't any good,” said Randy Moore. “Looking at all the murders that's going on in the city, most of that is gang related, and so it's a good thing to try to teach the students to stay away from gangs.”
Supporters believe anything that helps a child also helps a community.
“I don't think you ever give up,” said Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin. “I think you keep trying and if somebody lays out something new, I think you’ve got to come to the table and listen and see how you play a role in it. And that's what we're going to do.”
Gibbons said program can help stop “the dangerous combination of gangs, guns, and drugs.”
“That’s what’s driving our violent crime problem,” he said. “So if we can have an impact on that, if we can have an impact on gang activity in particular, that’s going to have an impact on our crime rate.”
