IPD program hopes to curb gang activity
— GREAT Families —
(ARTICLE FROM THE HENDRICKS COUNTY FLYER, WRITTEN BY Brenda L. Holmes)
INDIANAPOLIS — Police officers from the Indianapolis Police Department are trying to stop gang activity before it starts through the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program. Three law enforcement officers have been teaching the program to offenders, their children, and caregivers at the Indiana Women’s Prison for the past three weeks.
Sgt. James Todd and officers Bill Payne and Corey Harton lead discussions and role playing activities with the children, their caregivers, and the offender who is also a member of the family, usually the mother.
Officers with IPD have been teaching the GREAT program in schools for several years, but this is the first time the family component has been added. This six-week program is called GREAT Families, Todd said.
“This is a very positive program,” he said. “I think anytime you hook a police officer up with kids it’s a positive experience.”
The program is designed for families with children between the ages of 10 and 14. It’s organized into cooperative lessons designed to help family members better communicate, in an effort to enhance family decision-making skills.
“If you have a good relationship and there is a problem, it’s easier to talk about it,” Payne told the offenders and their families. “If there has been no communication, the family members are not going to listen to each other.”
During the program, the group discusses communication, family skills, role models, relationships, and how the media affects the family unit.
“We are trying to promote healthy families so we can reduce violence, crime, drug use, and hopefully participation in drugs,” Payne said. “When we have healthy families, it translates into healthy communities.”
Dana Blank, the administrator at IWP, has welcomed the program into her facility.
“I think we can always do more to keep the mothers connected with their children and the caregivers,” Blank said. “I commend the officers and the caregivers for coming to do this every week.”
The program has just passed the half-way point and the leaders said they are happy with how the family component has been working.
Payne said, “The discussions with the parent, child, and caregiver have been very good. And it’s just one more way the inmate can help affect their child in a positive way.”
To learn more about the GREAT program, visit the website at www.great-online.org.
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