Anti-Gang Forces Enlist New Weapon: Mothers : Schools: A group of moms will patrol campuses and bus stops to protect students. It is hoped that their presence will help prevent trouble.

A group of mothers will start patrolling secondary schoolyards and bus stops next week in a new program intended to keep students from joining or being harmed by gangs.

Because mothers can command respect, their presence in potentially troublesome areas can help prevent conflicts, said Roy Alvarado, a gang-prevention counselor who helped start Madres Costa Mesa. He said he knows of no other similar mother-patrol program in the Southland.

Alvarado and about 25 mothers from west Costa Mesa have been meeting for two months to discuss ways to discourage youth involvement in gangs. This week, the group decided to begin patrolling at Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools, said Carmen Barrios, one of the mothers and a Madres leader.

Barrios said the women will be at schools when buses arrive, during lunch time, and when students board buses to go home.

Alvarado said about 10 women working in pairs will go on the first patrol Tuesday or Wednesday, and that they will wear identification badges.

The Costa Mesa Police Department and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District strongly support the program.

“The more adults we have working with us the better,” said district Supt. Mac Bernd. “Young people are even more accountable when their parents are visible. We’re really supportive.”

Bernd said the mothers are welcome to patrol school property.

Costa Mesa Police Capt. Rick Johnson, patrol commander, said he talked with Alvarado about the program and likes the idea.

“Anything the community can do to make this a safer environment is something that the Police Department will support,” he said.

“Discipline always begins at home, and moms are a strong figure,” Johnson said. “It’s going to be something positive.”

Alvarado said he recruited Latinas whose children have been involved in gangs or other trouble because he felt those women know how to confront problems.

Barrios, one of the Madres leaders, said her eldest son, Jorge, 20, joined a neighborhood gang in 1988, two years after the family moved here from Ensenada, Mexico. He left the gang last fall after a friend was killed in a drive-by shooting.

“I didn’t know he was in a gang until he got his first tattoo,” Barrios said in Spanish.

As they sat at the family’s dining room table, the mother and son said that immigrant children sometimes get into gangs because they don’t know any better. Parents are often unaware of the danger, Carmen Barrios said.

Jorge Barrios said that because he spoke no English when he moved here, it was hard for him to make friends.

“I didn’t see what kinds of friends I had,” he said. “But they were gang members.”

Carmen Barrios said that because her own English was limited, she had difficulty communicating with her son’s teachers and counselors and did not realize how poorly he was doing in school.

During that period, her son said, he served time for trespassing, fighting and carrying a weapon.

“I couldn’t understand how my son had a gun,” Carmen Barrios recalled. “It was very hard. I’ve learned to be stronger, to face problems. I want to help other parents.”

Carmen Barrios said she believes the mistakes Jorge made have impressed her younger son, Andres, 15, a sophomore at Estancia High School. He thinks gangs are “stupid,” she said.

Jorge Barrios said he now counsels gang members at the Save Our Youth center and wants to become a police officer.

Carmen Barrios said she and the other members of Madres have two goals: to keep children safe from gang members and to talk to women who fear their own children may be in gangs.

“It’s the only thing that’s going to work,” said Alvarado, who works at Estancia and Costa Mesa high schools. “I can only do so much work with the kids. But when they leave me, somebody has to monitor them.”

Carmen Barrios said that at first, she couldn’t believe that her son was in a gang. When she patrols the schools, she said, she will try to encourage other parents to be more aware.

“Many parents deny that their children are in gangs,” Carmen Barrios said. “I want to tell them that the problem is there.”

Barrios said she will tell parents about the signs of drug and alcohol use and how to check their children for weapons. She said she hopes also that some of the children will come to confide in the mothers.

She also said many parents don’t know how to seek help. She said she will encourage them to join Madres, which meets every Wednesday at the Save Our Youth center.

“We don’t have to be parents only, but friends,” she said.

“Because the parents themselves are involved and taking responsibility for their kids, this is going to explode in terms of getting more mothers involved,” Alvarado predicted.

“You’re likely to be on your best behavior when parents are around,” Estancia High School Principal Frank Infusino noted.

Costa Mesa High School Principal Ed Harcharik agreed. “The kids don’t mess with mothers.”