By Sharif Durhams
The Charlotte Observer
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — Wearing a hooded sweatshirt backward so that it covered his eyes, a Kannapolis Middle School student stumbled as Officer Daniel Wallace ordered him around.
A fellow student tried to guide him to avoid stepping on pieces of paper that said “drugs,” “alcohol,” “violence” and “teen pregnancy.”
Other students laughed, but the participants got a prize, then a lesson:
“You have got to help your friends around these obstacles,” Wallace said. “You’ve got to be that person for your friends.”
Wallace, the school’s resource officer from the Kannapolis Police Department, led about a dozen students Thursday in a Boys & Girls Club after-school program that tries to steer students away from gang influences.
Law enforcement officers and other officials say gangs are present in schools in Cabarrus County. They want to influence children before that presence becomes a problem.
Officials say it’s difficult to compile countywide statistics on gang activity in schools. But community leaders say the prevalence of gang references in music, on television and in other media is having an effect in area schools.
Kannapolis Middle School Principal Chip Buckwell said there were, perhaps, two fights at his school this year that could be attributed to kids arguing over professed gang affiliations (though he describes most of the kids involved as “wannabe” gangsters).
Buckwell said he and Wallace have been able to stop other arguments before they’ve ballooned into fights.
“It’s not because I think there’s a big problem. It’s because I don’t want one,” Buckwell said. “We try to make sure we don’t move from a ‘wannabe’ situation into an actual one.”
Officials say there’s little evidence of criminal organizations in Cabarrus schools.
Some children try to copy the images they see of gangsters in popular media, or children move from areas with organized gangs and try to mimic the influences they left behind.
School system anti-gang policies help crack down if students, for instance, bring bandanas to school with gang colors or argue about gang affiliations in school.
Community leaders are trying to roll out programs designed to help parents steer kids away from the gang lifestyle.
A group of law enforcement officers, school officials and other community leaders has been meeting under the umbrella organization Project SAFE Cabarrus since the fall.
Buckwell said he didn’t know of a middle or high school in the county that doesn’t have to deal with similar issues.
Jodi Ramirez, manager of Project SAFE Cabarrus, said she gave 60 presentations to 3,000 people in 2007, and the interest has increased. So far this year, the organization has given presentations to 1,500 people, Ramirez said.
Leaders have quickly coordinated their efforts, Ramirez said.
For instance, when Wallace said he knew of some parents who needed to learn to read along with their children, a representative with the Cabarrus Literacy Council quickly stepped up.
Wallace said he may not be able to get his message to kids who see law enforcement officers as an enemy. He wants more community leaders to learn what to watch for and talk to kids about how to find things to connect to — other than a gang lifestyle.
Those leaders, Wallace said, can teach children that associating with gangs can lead only to prison or death.
“Our hope is that we can get those kids onto our program before they’re approached by a gang organization,” he said. “The younger we catch them, the easier that makes it for us.”
Copyright 2008 The Charlotte Observer