Police chief announces gang initiatives

Two plans to address Sonoma Valley’s growing gang problem will be rolled out next month – and Sonoma Police Chief Bret Sackett hopes they’ll also jumpstart a community dialogue.
“It’s going to take everybody coming together to address this problem in a collaborative way,” Sackett said Tuesday afternoon. “The reasons people get into gangs are as complex, I believe, as the ways to address them.”
Co-sponsored by the Sonoma Police Department, the programs focus on elementary- through high-school students as well as their parents, with particular attention to the youth who most need to hear the message, Sackett said.
The first program, Gang Resistance Education And Training (GREAT), was developed by federal law enforcement authorities in the early 1990s. The 10-week curriculum includes decision making, anger management and communication skills and will be administered through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley and taught by staffers with Sonoma County District Attorney’s office.
Where GREAT is designed for third- to fifth-graders, older youth will be served through two eight-week courses in gang prevention and a 12-week class in gang intervention. These, along with a  six-week parenting course, are co-sponsored by the City of Sonoma and the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, and will be taught at the Gateway School by Bob Flores of Gang Prevention in Sonoma Valley.
Currently, there are at least 200 documented gang members in Sonoma Valley, identified either through their own self-admission or via other criteria – such as repeated association with other known gang members, Sackett said. Although a majority of the crimes are committed by a small percentage of the group, the Valley has seen a threefold increase in reported gang activity since last year and a twofold increase in Sonoma proper. Gang activity accounts for less than three percent of total police calls.