More gangs are moving to rural areas of Oklahoma where few law officers have been trained on how to deal with them, the state's top drug agent said today.
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About 9 percent of police officers in cities have received some type of gang training, according to a recent survey of state law officers, said R. Darrell Weaver, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.
In rural areas, only about 2 percent of law officers have received some training on gangs, Weaver said.
Gangs are going to rural areas because city police departments are making progress cracking down on gang activities, he told a joint meeting of the Oklahoma Youth and Gang Violence Coordinating Council and the Oklahoma Gang Intervention Steering Committee.
The two committees, made up of about 40 members from law enforcement, state agencies and groups that work with juveniles, reviewed comments from four subcommittees. They hope to come up with proposed bills and funding suggestions for next year's legislative session to beat back the growing number of gangs and their influence on Oklahoma's youth.
No action was taken during today's meeting. Both groups will meet together again in December.
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Now I know this doesn't work for everyone off those Kids.
But when I worked for a Automatic Carwash Company a few years ago,we had a Guy named Mike that's all the name we need,that came all the way from Oakland California,whit his Gang Tattoos etc.just to get away and get a new Start in Life.
He did it for himself and his Ailing Mom.
He learned how to install the Carwashes from the Ground up,electrical-mechanical and Plumbing etc.in less then a Year,and then would install a Carwash from start to finish in less then a Month,wich used to take a Crew of 4 a Month and ahalf.
And he did it better.
We are still in Touch today,as he went back to Oakland as his Mothers Health is declining.
But he worked here for Five Years and made something out of him self,and today works for Mark VII Equipment making darn good Money.
The Moral of this Story is that you have to "WANT" to make something of yourself Father or not.
That brings me to me!?
My Father died when I was 4 1/2 years old,my Mom never remarried (Devoted Catholic),I grew up in Germany and came here at the age of Seventeen,joined the Marine Corps (one of my Brother in Law's cosigned),and I made my own way in the World,and have been doing this ever since.Raised 4 Kids and never looked back.
Moral to that Story is,it doesn't matter what your Lot in Life is,if you want something bad enough in Life,You can achieve it.
How do those Punks think I felt when I Stepped in to those "Yellow Footprints" in San Diego,hardly could Speak English and this "BIG BLACK MAN" the "DI" screaming at me something,FROM THIS DAY ON I'M YOUR MOTHER I'M YOUR FATHER ETC.
Any Marine that's been there knows what I am talking about.
So in a Nut Shell,if I could do this,so can they,atliest they grew up overhere and speak the Language,well some of them,because "Ebonics" isn't getting anybody anywhere fast either in the real Working World.
I think I made a Point here.
P.S. In a Nut Shell like I said,where there is a "WILL" there is a "WAY",you just have to want it bad enough.
END OF STORY.
McAlester police have long known that the Blacks who live in the Ridge Crest Section-8 development want to form gangs. When one wannabe gang member was shot dead in downtown McAlester and there was no prosecution, this shut down that idea for a while. Now as time goes by, they are getting bolder about making it happen. But if it rears its ugly head again, the local Cletus' of Mayberry will take care of matters.
Again CLETUS from MAYBERRY what do you do ???? You are so cowardly that you do not even use your real name or town ! Are you afraid of the gang members?????
Benjamin,Wittman - some very good suggestions. I would like to expand what you suggest by going into our public schools for the gangsters, druggies, and troublemakers. By age 14 if a kid doesn't want to be in school or keeps causing trouble where learning cannot take place, send he or she to a bootcamp facility to learn discipline and responsibility. Having taught in public schools for 30 years we need to have other alternatives for children who just don't value an education. People worry about the dropout rate and why I don't know. If kids don't want to be in school, why make them go where they disrupt class and keep other students from learning? I'd give them the option - "You don't want to come to school and learn, then you can go to a bootcamp." It would be amazing how our test scores would go up.
Cletus, you mentioned that we talk the talk but don't walk the walk. I BEG YOUR PARDON!! I am actively doing what I can to work with these kids to help them get the "want to" to turn their lives around. I spend at least 1-2 evenings a week working as a "volunteer" trying to help. If I didn't have to work for a living, I would be there a lot more. I don't go to get a pat on the back. I go because I have NOT given up on the next generation of adults. (Incidentally, I hope that they will take more interest in those that come after them than this generation of adults do.) God doesn't throw people away & I can't either. Cletus, what do you do to help make a positive influence on the next generation, besides gripe??
Better yet,how about abortion.These kids are raised in poverty and usually end up resorting to committing the same crimes they see on a daily basis just to survive.Abortion might be extreme enough for all the naive people out there.Oh wait, this is the bible belt.
"The Stranger" in Seattle--which bills itself as "Seattle's only newspaper"--in 2004 dismissed every state in America that didn't vote they way they thought we should in the presidential election, and went on to wish the worst for those who live here--including death for our offspring (they were gracious enough to hope it would *only* be accidental), which they asserted would serve a public good. "R" in Seattle, I haven't had much use for so-called "sophisticates" from your dreary city and their preening condescension ever since. That includes you. Thanks.
Helen if the positive way worked I would be all for it! Most of these kids may well want a way out but as you said it's rare that they find one so they need to be taught that people are just not going to tolerate the behavior anymore we do not want our streets to be like East LA if they really want out then they just walk away as my brother did it wasnt easy he still has to look over his shoulder everywhere he goes but I just think that they have to want it real bad in order for that to work. I grew up poor and I wanted more so I got a job and most of these kids can work it would keep them off of the streets involved in something besides violence and then just maybe they could find the right path I am not heartless I have just seen to much !!!
Robin, I am not saying that everyone who is raised without a father is going to choose to join a gang. I am saying that I find it interesting that every young gang member that I work with has not had a relationship with a father, much less had one in the home. Many of them have told me when talking one on one that they needed male leadership. They said that they didn't have it at home & gang leadership substituted. I am only saying what I have been told by those who have made that choice. Yes, it is a choice. Almost all have came from poor families & have had the cards stacked against them from birth. Many would like to find a way out. Even when they are incarcerated by the juvenile system, they know that they will be sent back to the same environment that they came from. That is a sad fact. Many have dreams of a better life away from the gang but know that it is waiting to suck them back in. Usually, there are but two ways out- death or prison. And, neither is appealing. But, of course, most of you men here would just as soon shoot these kids as look at them. And as I have said before, no one wants to be part of the (positive)solution.
Well R from Seattle I absolutely do not wish to give Oklahoma a bad name or speak for anyone but myself. And maybe the way I think is on the redneck side but yes I have had a little brother who was in a gang and helen's view doesnt wash it's a choice if they are taught at home right from wrong it can still happen and not having a father has nothing to do with it I dont have a father and I am no gang member & yes at the time my brother was doing this he definitely should have been shot he put his family through hell and many other people as well he is busy now having the gang tatoos covered up there was never an excuse for him to be involved in a gang he just did it. I raised three children there was no father figure in the house they are not and have never been in a gang I kicked their butt when they needed it i kept them in sports and I knew what they were doing and when. I worked I was the mother and the father so that is no excuse. As far as by brother is concerned I am glad he no longer chooses to be a gang member and he is now a productive citizen but had he been shot it would have been deserved!!! So my view may be harsh but most never change and they either hurt someone or go to prison and we support them they are better off dead!!!
Some interesting solutions being left here. For years I have been promoting an idea that I arrived at after living in several large cities, as well as smaller communities. My solution, for gangs is once their identified and it is proven they belong to a "gang" send them to bootcamp, tuffin them up, in the military and bring home our troops and send in the "gang" to hold our stance in Iraq. You would see a great number of people "healed" from ganster-hood, and rehabilitated to perhaps the most upstanding citizen of any community. I also carry this idea on to our prison system. Break a law, get sentenced to prison, first 2 months in the pen you go through boot camp, the third month you are shipped out to Iraq and bring home our military fathers, mothers, brothers, sons, sisters....For those who successfully fight for our nation we welcome them back with commendations of a successful rehab and clean their record. They screw up again, this time it will be Afganastan! We'd clean out jails and prisons from the over-crowding issue. I would go as far as including sending illegal aliens who made the trip here for a brighter future, fight for it and you can stay amigo! Make some serious rehabilitations. Give some of these youngsters reasons to reconsider becoming a gangster! Of course my idea would require a bunch of fine print, deep discussions with civil rights org's. We should be sending the bad guys off the street to fight over there and keep families together over here.
The problem with my idea is...is that it's too simple and would probably make dollar store discount lawyers rich for keeping thugs from hurting future victims. I propose to use on our front lines, every convicted drug dealer, death row inmate, robber, theif, raper, child molester, tax evader,illegal alien, etc... Tuffin up our approach and I promise you there would be little issue with the border situation. Crime would drop(at least at home in America) and punks would pull their britches up and use a belt or suspenders to hold them from dropping below their butts! These people killing fellow citizens, dogs and cats would get a dose of reality and I am most certain that many of todays troubled crimes and offenses against society would begin to disappear. Sincerely I wish someone would use my idea, because it couldn't make it any worse than what we already have. What's more any politican could use this approach and be safe because the folks I propose using either can't or won't vote!
Guys, I dont disagree that we as a society should get much tougher with gang members, but I think you guys are being stereotypical conservative or whatever the rest of the world calls Oklahoma. What happened to the principles of our nation? Do you really think we should shoot/execute gang members just because they are gang members? What if your child or someone in YOUR family were a gang member, do you STILL think they should be shot on sight? Im not making excuses for these people, in general they have shown themselves to be very violent and not caring about society. Yet, I think the drastic measures shown by the group of Oklahomans below is typical of OK unless YOU have someone YOU know involved.
I work with young people who are incarcerated & have come from gangs. Almost all of them have NO father figure at home & are looking for that. That is why they join the gang. If kids needs were met at home, they wouldn't be looking elsewhere. If every respectable, caring man would take a teenage boy with no father, under his wing and mentor him, the gangs would dry up. It gets back to caring about your fellow man. Our society doesn't, pure and simple.
Let me just get the ball rolling here shoot them and put them out of their misery as well as your's! They serve no purpose & they have no future & you wont either if they take your town and schools over. People it starts at home keep your kids away from them !!!
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But when I worked for a Automatic Carwash Company a few years ago,we had a Guy named Mike that's all the name we need,that came all the way from Oakland California,whit his Gang Tattoos etc.just to get away and get a new Start in Life.
He did it for himself and his Ailing Mom.
He learned how to install the Carwashes from the Ground up,electrical-mechanical and Plumbing etc.in less then a Year,and then would install a Carwash from start to finish in less then a Month,wich used to take a Crew of 4 a Month and ahalf.
And he did it better.
We are still in Touch today,as he went back to Oakland as his Mothers Health is declining.
But he worked here for Five Years and made something out of him self,and today works for Mark VII Equipment making darn good Money.
The Moral of this Story is that you have to "WANT" to make something of yourself Father or not.
That brings me to me!?
My Father died when I was 4 1/2 years old,my Mom never remarried (Devoted Catholic),I grew up in Germany and came here at the age of Seventeen,joined the Marine Corps (one of my Brother in Law's cosigned),and I made my own way in the World,and have been doing this ever since.Raised 4 Kids and never looked back.
Moral to that Story is,it doesn't matter what your Lot in Life is,if you want something bad enough in Life,You can achieve it.
How do those Punks think I felt when I Stepped in to those "Yellow Footprints" in San Diego,hardly could Speak English and this "BIG BLACK MAN" the "DI" screaming at me something,FROM THIS DAY ON I'M YOUR MOTHER I'M YOUR FATHER ETC.
Any Marine that's been there knows what I am talking about.
So in a Nut Shell,if I could do this,so can they,atliest they grew up overhere and speak the Language,well some of them,because "Ebonics" isn't getting anybody anywhere fast either in the real Working World.
I think I made a Point here.
P.S. In a Nut Shell like I said,where there is a "WILL" there is a "WAY",you just have to want it bad enough.
END OF STORY.
The problem with my idea is...is that it's too simple and would probably make dollar store discount lawyers rich for keeping thugs from hurting future victims. I propose to use on our front lines, every convicted drug dealer, death row inmate, robber, theif, raper, child molester, tax evader,illegal alien, etc... Tuffin up our approach and I promise you there would be little issue with the border situation. Crime would drop(at least at home in America) and punks would pull their britches up and use a belt or suspenders to hold them from dropping below their butts! These people killing fellow citizens, dogs and cats would get a dose of reality and I am most certain that many of todays troubled crimes and offenses against society would begin to disappear. Sincerely I wish someone would use my idea, because it couldn't make it any worse than what we already have. What's more any politican could use this approach and be safe because the folks I propose using either can't or won't vote!