licensetooperate

It's always a concern. The whole idea is to provide a uniformed approach to the work that minimizes threats or perceptions to the work.

• Alfred

From what I gather, there is that balance but they treat that world with so much respect. Whether they're currently banging or out of the gangs, what I saw between the guys is the respect level shown between people in the community. People know based on their history and respect they're showing that they're legitimate and people get that.

• James

The whole goal of what we're doing is to bring normality to a dysfunctional situation to people in a state of crisis. We have committed a long time ago and clearly understand there will be sacrifices made in this process but because of the work that's done, we've acquired credibility in these communities that we serve. So those individuals in the community for the most part realize that we're assets as opposed to liabilities. Thank you for your questions.

• Aquil

School teachers play a pivotal role in the cognitive development but also the emotional intelligence development of youth. And so if they can spend the first 10 minutes of a class, particularly when they first start in the morning, simply listening to the student. "How was your day when you went home last night?" "How was it when you came to school?" What a lot of teachers fail to realize is that in some communities, young people literally leave home in fear, fearing for the very safety of their lives due to the gang violence that exists. So when we talk about the wellness of a youth, don't overlook the trauma that they probably experience outside of that learning environment. Simply by asking them how they feel, perhaps is the very hope that they can rely on and would help them to navigate how they're going to get back home when school's over. May not be a reality in the school they're teaching at, stay tuned because if America keeps going in the direction it's going, it'll soon come visit you.

• Officer Brown

To bounce off what he's saying, I want to separate the skill set between hardcore gang intervention as a specific domain of work. however a school teacher's work is very important, it's important that if they work in areas that are experiencing epidemic levels of violence, it's also important for the community to understand that children have been impacted by violence. It's vital that the child receive the proper type of care including mental health, social engagement pieces but it's really collaboration between everyone in the community who participates in the recovery of that child.

• Alfred

We learned following the stories of some of the young people in LTO that PTSD is a real issue with the youth in these areas. We think it's a problem with children in Syria and Afghanistan but it's also a problem here. Teachers need a lot more resources opened up than in the past to deal with these issues.

• James

One other thing, to piggy back on my colleagues. We clearly need to understand something in these communities. These teachers in many circumstances are the only safety net that these kids have and the most important asset that these teachers have is to understand the normality of the child that they're dealing with. What I mean by that is it's far too often that people step into roles to assist these young adults and they understand their "normal," not realizing that the child's normal is totally different. So being that these teachers spend 8 hours a day with these young adults, they understand what they're going through and they're able to pass that information on to others who want to help in this process. Lastly, the importance of that is those individuals outside of the classroom that want to assist in the process by safeguarding the children and trying to create some normality are able to at least operate with some what of a foundation as to what they are dealing with. This becomes a reference point to start with as they start to build answers and solutions to assist a child.

• Aquil

Yeah, of course. In the line of work that I do as a former gang member, you still have individuals in the community that still pose a threat to the community and still want to play on the community. I have been threatened, called all types of names, been accused of being a snitch, being accused of working with law enforcement cause people don't want to see change. There are a lot of individuals in the community that are hardcore gang members themselves. I was one myself so I know how that looks and plays in the community. The ones that know what I do, I try to make a better community. I got guys sitting on life in prison, sitting on death row, that respect the work I do and continue to tell me to keep doing what I'm doing. So I'm not going to allow no one on the street to tell me something different or take on rumors, I continue to do the work the best I can and be real for the guys in the neighborhood because I don't cross that line. That means not going to the other side and working with law enforcement in a way that's going to jeopardize my work as an LTO.

• Reynaldo

We have to be clear on something. Those of us that really do this work and know this work, everyone here does. We don't go into the community to judge what's going on. When I talked earlier about bringing normality back to that community, it's not just for the residents, it's for everyone in the community. If I can transform a banger's thinking process, a community stakeholder, an emergency responder or just average community resident to realize they need to take ownership in restore what's perceived as a dysfunctional community for the betterment of all, that's my job. Now there's going to be degraded negative situations and individuals that if you're really on the ground, you're going to encounter in this work. Let me emphatically say this work is not school work, it's not fun and games. This work is hard. This work is sacrificing. And this work tears you apart. This work creates mental degradation, physical turmoil and times again, just the thinking process of "are we accomplishing anything in terms of where we are in these streets." So understanding the work really becomes imperative that you realize what type of work this is. I guess I can best say that by we all realize we're all at war. In war you're going to have casualties, faced with victories as well as defeats, you're going to triumphs and you're going to have down moments. I respect all my colleagues because they've been through this, understand this, and know this. And lastly, again when we stepped into this role, we signed up to where we realize we're going to have to face adversarial opponents and situations. But we all knew if we were going to truly be successful, we'd have to have the passion and drive to not personalize and to go out there and put our best foot forward to try to make change in these communities and the individuals within them.

• Aquil

Great question. The repair has already begun almost 3 years ago when we started working to develop a curriculum involving former gang members, community activists, and community intervention workers along side with sworn law enforcement officers. It is an 8 hour class and what it offers is the opportunity for officers to have a face to face dialogue with a community, in many respects, who have been faceless, voiceless, and without representation with the hierarchy of our department. So now that conversations are taking place, we have developed two top experiences that allow the officers to meet and work on problem solving together. It is in fact cutting edge and revolutionary in my opinion.

-Officer Brown

In transforming a community to stand independently, there are 5 basic components that need to transpire. Preventative, outreach, intervention, integrated services, and a smart suppression component. Smart suppression is where you find law enforcement, emergency responders, etc. If there is going to be transformatable change in that community, these components must find common denominators from which they can work from. So the training we are talking about is to redefine the thinking process in all involved to see what can be done, what cannot, the safety nest involved, etc where we can have this holistic push for individuality and community transformation.

-Aquil

It was a long journey. I was surrounded by people later in life that showcased a different lifestyle that i fully embraced and as a result years later became involved in this movement known as intervention...Now I sing kumbaya and know what a s'more is. And I drive a Prius.

-Alfred

My situation is much different, in that on July 17th 2009, my only son was murdered at the hand of a gang member. It was a major turning point in my life and so I was approached by a colleague Sgt Curtis Woodle. He became my mentor and asked if I would join him in this cause to help introduce and present gang interventionists to our law enforcement community. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have met the likes of James Lipetzky, the individuals that I share this room with today, and the opportunity to share with an audience that I can’t even see, but I trust the sincerity of the dialogue. I was quite happy being a drill instructor and training officers; in fact I wanted to retire as being a drill instructor. This cause is much greater than that, and I have humbly accepted this destiny.

-Officer Brown