ATLANTA — As students head back to school next, the Atlanta Public Schools Police Department will have another tool to combat gang activity and recruiting within their schools.
Numbers released from the school system show in the last school year, 67 students were disciplined for gang-related offenses.
However, APS Police Chief Ronald Applin said it's not just about being reactive but being proactive in curbing a problem that's growing within the district and the state.
Ryan K. Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, partnered with the Georgia Alliance for School Resource Officers and Educators, The Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and the Georgia Gang Investigators Association to bring a Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program to more than 40 officers across northern Georgia.
"We decided to double down and the U.S. Attorney was very helpful," Applin explained.
He sent 15 officers to be certified through the program-- an evidence-based, gang and violence prevention program built around school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curricula.
G.R.E.A.T. describes its program as an "immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership for children in the years immediately before the prime ages for introduction into gangs and delinquent behavior."
Applin said just this past year they had kids recruiting other kids into gangs.
'It's gotten to that point we're seeing it in the elementary schools," he said.
While the G.R.E.A.T. training teaches School Resource Officers signs of recruiting, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said it goes deeper.
"But even more so, helping develop relationships with the students so those students develop decisions making skills that help them opt out of gang activity when it's presented to them," Buchanan explained.
Buchanan and Applin both know, timing is critical among our youth.
"You want to build that base of good decision-making," Buchanan said.
The goal is to divert the children from being recruited before it's too late.
"Once you're in, it's difficult o divert and change course," he said.
Applin added their goal at APS is to make sure these kids stay on the right path.
"We want to see every kid who starts in kindergarten work their way through high school, survive and walk across that stage," Applin explained.
Applin said APS Police now has 17 officers who graduated from the G.R.E.A.T. program. The agency also has a gang intelligence officer, working alongside officers to help deter recruiting and gang activity in the schools.