SIMI VALLEY : Police Officer’s Program Helps Students GUARD Against Gangs

For two years, Simi Valley Police Officer John St. Laurent watched as a steady increase in gang activity threatened his once tranquil community. Last September, he decided to fight back.

With the support of the Simi Valley Police Department, St. Laurent, 38, created a program called GUARD--Gang Understanding and Resistance Development--to keep Simi Valley students out of gangs and in school.

“The gang problem here isn’t as bad as Los Angeles yet, but once you lose control, you’ve lost the battle,” said St. Laurent, whose 12-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter attend school in Simi Valley.

St. Laurent has arrested several students on gang-related charges such as vandalism, graffiti and having a concealed weapon on campus. But he said GUARD’s emphasis is on reaching students before they join gangs.

“The wanna-bes, or the young kids who are on the fringe of joining gangs, those are the ones we are targeting,” he said.

On school days, St. Laurent travels between Simi Valley’s two public high schools, its four junior high schools and its many elementary schools, talking with administrators and counseling troubled students.

At Valley View Junior High School, the officer met recently with a 15-year-old male gang member. Several students at the school had told St. Laurent that trouble was brewing between rival gangs in the area.

When the student confirmed his suspicions, St. Laurent returned the favor by warning him to watch out, because a rival gang member was reportedly out to get him. The student nodded his thanks and returned to class.

St. Laurent said he makes sure the students who give him information don’t get in trouble with rival gang members. “I make sure nothing leads back to them. If something did, they wouldn’t trust me anymore,” he said.

Valley View Assistant Principal Donna Freeman said students talk to St. Laurent because they don’t want gangs in their school. “They realize that they don’t want a school like the ones in Los Angeles,” Freeman said.

St. Laurent attributes his popularity with the students to the five years he spent working for Simi Valley’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. He knows the families and backgrounds of many students.

“He’s a lifesaver, and he’s just a beeper away,” Freeman said. “When a student has a problem--boom, he’s here. He talks to the kids and they listen to him.”