Issue | Background | Findings | Conclusions | Recommendations | Responses | Attachments Youth Gangs in San Mateo County

Conclusions 1

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  There is general agreement that San Mateo County must work much harder at preventing youth from joining gangs. It is cheaper and more effective to prevent the behavior rather than to react to it. Because the effects of prevention are less obvious and difficult to quantify, community support may not be easy to obtain. If young people are to grow up integrated successfully into society, the entire community must recognize gang-related problems and work to define and support solutions. If we ask youth to say “No” to gangs, we need positive alternatives to which they can say “Yes” The two types of programs that can decrease gang affiliation are educational presentations and structured activity programs. Such prevention programs organized by the county exist but require additional funding to continue and to expand. Young people, beginning with all middle-school youth and even as young as the elementary grades, must be provided with prevention programs and be educated about the long-term implications of joining a gang. Activity programs are equally essential. County-wide Parks and Recreation Departments are important contributors to after-school activity programs. The collaborative program, which they have organized and met for an initial brainstorming session, is an important step towards reducing youth violence. The Grand Jury commends them for this effort. 6 A coordinated systematic approach is necessary to deal with the gangs issue. At the present time, county departments and agencies are attempting to deal with the multifaceted gang problem in a disjointed operational and informational environment. There is no single location that either an individual or an agency can contact to determine the availability of anti-gang resources or programs. There is no contact point for teachers or others to report possible gang behavior or membership, nor is an intervention mechanism in place to follow up on such a report. Finally, there clearly needs to be a San Mateo County central data-gathering resource. The general public may read newspaper accounts of gangs, but it is not aware of the extent of gang problems in San Mateo County. As a result, there is little public support, and only limited funds, for comprehensive violence prevention activities for youth. Finally, the Grand Jury commends Probation Department, the Sheriff’s Department, and the various city police departments for the education programs they have been conducting. These programs should be continued, and the number of presentations increased.

No Responses Found 2

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.