Buena Park : Gang Prevention Program Expanding

The Police Department’s youth gang prevention program is expanding to help parents keep their children out of trouble.

Police Chief Richard M. Tefank said the aim of the expansion is to increase parent awareness about gangs.

“If we’re able to assist them and their families to deal with dysfunctional-family issues, we can have long-term prevention to gangs and drugs,” Tefank said.

The expansion of the Positive Avenues for Youth program, or PAY, which is taught to fifth-graders, is made possible through a $90,000 grant the Police Department received from the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

Barbara Baiz, gang prevention adviser, said plans are to provide parent education and training and to start parent support groups.

“A lot of parents are not aware that their kids are involved in gangs and are not aware of the threat gangs pose,” said Baiz, who teaches the anti-gang program to students.

“We want to empower parents to be good parents and be more involved with their children . . . so they can emerge from any denial when it comes to gangs,” she said. In order to combat the gang problem, parents need to be a part of the solution, Baiz added.

“What we’ve come to find is the one particular group we need to make contact with is the family--the family is the core and it’s the parents who should be responsible and accountable,” she said. “Law enforcement and school districts can’t do it alone.”

Baiz said the expanded program will also include emphasis on conflict resolution, which means teaching youngsters to deal with their problems in a nonviolent way.

Last year, more than 1,400 local students participated in the PAY program, which is in its third year. This year about the same number of students will be taught the program at 14 elementary schools.