COLUMBUS, Ohio — A program by the U.S. Department of Justice is taking a proactive approach to violence in Columbus by focusing on the city’s youth.
On Tuesday, fifth grade students at East Linden Elementary School graduated from the G.R.E.A.T program, which stands for Gang Resistance Education and Training.
For the last six weeks, ATF Special Agent Antonio Johnson has been talking to the students about bullying and teaching them skills like conflict management, decision-making and practical communication skills.
“They are our future and for me, you don’t always want to see law enforcement when we are doing criminal enforcement,” Johnson said. “For me, it is very important that law enforcement educates, goes back to the communities that need our assistance.”
The skills taught in the G.R.E.A.T program can help divert students from getting involved in gang activity as they get older, according to Daryl McCormick, ATF Special Agent in Charge for the Columbus Field Division.
“I think the natural response to bullying is retaliation, it is sometimes retreating into isolation and that can lead to anger, resentment, retaliation those are all the things that frankly gangs feed on and those are things that we want to avoid,” McCormick said.
Special Agent McCormick said gang activity is prevalent in the city, and this kind of education is becoming even more important as the agency sees younger people getting involved in violent crime.
“It is prevalent, they are loosely affiliated, loosely organized but clearly it is a problem. You can call it gang, you can call it groups, there are different words for that but at the end of the day it is clusters of people making bad choices involved in criminal activity and clearly we would like to have influence in steering them to better choices,” McCormick said.
The G.R.E.A.T program has been taught in schools nationwide since 1991 and the ATF is looking to expand into more schools in central Ohio.
“The more education and training you can give, the more thought provoking conversations you can have with the community that will kind of tend to less and less crime and it helps the community,” Johnson said.