New program tells teens about broad impacts of gang crime with message: chose your families, not gangs

By Jennifer Squires, Mercury News
Posted: 07/10/2009 01:30:05 AM PDT
Updated: 07/10/2009 06:02:48 AM PDT

WATSONVILLE — Juvenile probation officers and other community members took a new approach to addressing gang violence this week when they hosted an intimate, family-oriented forum aimed at explaining the far-reaching impacts of crime while promoting more constructive behaviors.

Noemi, a mother whose 18-year-old son is serving six years in state prison, told the small group gathered that she tried to save her son. Once, she followed him for blocks trying to talk him out of hanging out with his gang friends. When he finally stopped, he told her he loved her and to go home, the mother said.

The Sentinel is not using last names in this story because of the current and past involvement with gangs of many at the meeting.

Through tears Wednesday evening, she told the teenagers gathered in the room they should pick their families over being in the streets with their friends.

“It’s your choice… and you can chose to do the right thing,” she said.

The focus of the meeting was two-fold.

Parents and other relatives were educated about gang history and what the groups in South County look like. They were given advice on everything from how to talk to their kids to what types of clothing shouldn’t be worn by teenagers because it indicates a gang connection and might make the kids a target for violence.

At the same time, Noemi and four men who’d served stints in local jail or state prison talked to teenage boys who already have had run-ins with the law about the bleak future they face if they continue on their current paths.

The former prisoners, all of whom are now involved in the Si Se Puede rehabilitation program in Watsonville, talked vaguely about what landed them behind bars and how they wished they had made different choices.

“I had a pretty bad life, man. Smoking dope, smoking meth, sitting on some corner,” said Alex, a 31-year-old gang member from Salinas. “There’s really nothing there but a lot of jail time, and that really sucks.”

The men said they wished they had listened to their parents, stayed in school and been able to have more contact with their families. All have children, some of whom the men have had little contact with because of their incarceration.

Manuel, a 24-year-old Watsonville native, got caught up in the 2007 Operation Red Bull bust, which took down about two dozen people suspected of selling and using drugs, stealing cars and fencing stolen weapons. He did a year in jail for drug-related charges.

“I did a lot of damage to my mom,” Manuel said. “When we’re young we don’t really think about the damage we do to our families. They’re the only ones who are really there through the bad stuff.”

Noemi, whose son took a plea deal so he wouldn’t face gang enhancements — which add 10 years to a prison term — at trial, said she knew about two years ago she was losing him. He stayed out late, got tattoos and had an attitude with her.

“We began a hard, hard road,” she said. “I knew it wasn’t about love. I couldn’t love him out of that.”

Juvenile probation officer Gina Castaneda, one of the forum organizers, encouraged kids and their parents to get take advantage of the many alteratives to gangs and crime: Watsonville’s five teen centers, other community programs, sports, mentors, school activities, church, clubs, even just visiting areas outside of South County to realize there are other options for them.

“You guys have to get out there and explore,” she said. “There are fun, interesting things to do.”

Castaneda said intent of the program is to impact at-risk youth and families before more violence occurs. Watsonville experienced a burst of gang crime in June, including stabbings and drive-by shooting, that injured several young men.

The county Probation Department intends to continue presenting the information to small groups to address incidents of community violence in a swift manner. An abbreviated version of the program was given once before at Juvenile Hall in Felton, according to Castaneda.

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