Seminar aims to educate parents about gangs

jan hogan/viewDebbie Berger, left, program manager for Project REAL (Relevant Education About the Law), talks with Metropolitan Police Department officer Laura Meltzer prior to the start of the Our Children and Gangs Informational Summit at the Desert Breeze Community Center, Jan. 20. Advertisement

If a gas mask tumbles out of your child's backpack, it's probably not because he's preparing for chemical warfare. If there's stylistic doodling on your child's notebook, it's unlikely he's considering a career in art.

These are the signs that your child could be being influenced by a gang. And it happens to both boys and girls.

On Jan. 20, Clark County Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Susan Brager and several local law enforcement representatives hosted a meeting called Our Children and Gangs Informational Summit at Desert Breeze Community Center, 8275 Spring Mountain Road. The purpose was to educate parents about gangs.

The rain appeared to be a factor in attendance. About 70 people were in the audience, but many were law enforcement representatives. Brager said the event would have a positive impact on the community despite the low turnout.

"No matter the number of people here tonight, they all know people and can (share) this information. Then those people know people and they'll pass it on, and so forth," Brager said. "We want to have a safe, healthy town. We want to have safe, healthy children."

Ellery Armstrong, a stay-at-home mother, was there because her area of town near The Lakes has no graffiti and no signs of gang activity -- and she wants to keep it that way.

"I'm actually interested in joining the police department," she said, adding that she would gladly confront gang members once she was trained and wearing a badge.

That goal will be delayed a bit, as she is six months pregnant.

A teacher who asked not to be identified said she sees a lot of signs that gangs are active at Sawyer Middle School, 5450 Redwood St.

"It angers me because I think that we, as a society, are too tolerant," she said. "I'd like Metro to provide more training for teachers, so they can spot the signs. Like, a lot of teachers see gang writing on school books and think it's cultural writing."

Megan Rose, a UNLV student who is studying psychology and criminal justice, said she sees evidence of gangs virtually everywhere. She said kids in gangs "are not thinking of others, are not thinking of their future."

Jerry Simon, who heads the Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice Services Gang Task Force, handed out booklets to parents that detailed how to spot gang influence. They included illustrations of common hand signals and jargon. The Metropolitan Police Department reports that there are more than 500 gangs with 11,000-plus members in Clark County.

"That's only what the records show," Simon said. "But I can tell you with certainty that there are 7,000 to 8,000 juveniles that are not even on the books yet."

He said they were not counted because of their age.

Debbie Berger, program manager for Project REAL -- Relevant Education About the Law -- had a table and spoke of taking youngsters on a tour of both the Regional Justice Center and the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse, which included sitting in on cases before a judge. One offender had been on parole when it was discovered he was using drugs.

"He got sent back to jail for two years, and all the kids were like, 'Ahhh,' " she said, making a drop-jaw face. "They said they didn't realize how serious it was to break the law."

Our Children and Gangs featured representatives from the Metropolitan Police Department's Enterprise Area Command, 6975 W. Windmill Lane; the Clark County Department of Juvenile Justice Services; the Clark County School District Police Department; and the Nevada Department of Public Safety's Division of Parole and Probation.

Parents were given scenarios of how to spot signs of gang activity in their children and why taking a hard stance now, instead of trying to be a friend to their child, was the proper thing to do. They were given statistics, shown examples of graffiti symbols and what they meant. They spoke on why some young people join gangs, how gang members recruit new members, warning signs that one's child may be involved with a gang, reporting gang activity and community-based anti-gang strategies.

As the summit was all about parents being the first line of defense, the information included examples of how to start a conversation about drugs with one's child.

Officers warned that once someone was in a gang, they were always in a gang. If they tried to leave, they would likely be killed.

But the star of the night was someone parents never got to see. He held court in a small room far down the hall, and his audience was about 20 youngsters and teens.

Christian Ochoa is a convicted felon and former drug dealer who joined a gang as a teen. His talk used no gas masks and no art-covered binders, yet his words had everyone's attention.

"I was 19 years old, had $100,000 in a safe deposit box, carried another $5,000 in my pants pocket," he said. "I grabbed it (gang life) and ran with it until I crashed into a couple of life sentences."

He was charged with attempted murder when he was 20. Ochoa provided the young people with a glimpse of life in hell -- jail. He told of a tall, beefy man who was in a gang for years and years and served it faithfully. But, now that he was older, the man wanted out. Word spread through the prison, and the former gang member was marked for assassination. He was found not long after and stabbed to death in the jail shower.

As for Ochoa, the $100,000 he'd stashed away, he said, went to pay his lawyers. He spent nine years in jail.

Now 33, Ochoa cooperates with the Metropolitan Police Department's Gang Crimes Bureau, using his story to discourage kids from gangs, from drugs and from dropping out of school.

"I have no trade skills, no education, and those girls I used to know? They want nothing to do with me," he said.

This is not the last time gang activity will be addressed. The Metropolitan Police Department's 2010 Gang Conference is slated to be held March 12-13 at the Suncoast, 9090 W. Alta Drive. The conference fee for residents to attend the March 13 portion is $50. For more information, visit www.lvmpd.com.

As for the Our Children and Gangs Informational Summit program, the sessions will be repeated every quarter, Brager said, to reach more and more parents.

For information about gangs, contact the Metropolitan Police Department's Gang Crimes Bureau at 828-3309 or the Enterprise Area Command's Crime Prevention Detail at eacprevention@lvmpd.com or 828-5804.

Contact Summerlin and Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.