The photos illustrate Monrovia’s new twist to community oriented policing.
“We try to motivate people to bring their
neighborhoods‘up,’” Hunt said.
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When the problems of 2008 hit, Hunt and his fellow
officers asked themselves how they could prevent kids
from joining gangs and how they could intervene with kids
already involved in gangs.
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They came up with an intervention program
calledChaplains for At Risk Youth (CARY), in which
police chaplains seek out middle-school or early high school
students who aren’tin gangs but who are associating with
gang members or hanging out with kids using drugs.
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Parents are more receptive to opening up to chaplains than
to police officers, Hunt said. The chaplains point parents to
such resources as boys and girls clubs, the YMCA, and afterschool programs.
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Hunt said CARY has yielded “great successes” with many
families.
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“If we can change one kid’s life,” he said, “we can make a
difference.”
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Another Monrovia PD program that is part of the James
Q. Wilson award is The Formative Years, which is aimed
at the prevention part of Hunt’s anti-gang strategy. In a
partnership with schools and churches, police officers
separate parents from their children into two classes and
cover such topics as parenting skills, bullying, gangs and
drug use, and the media’s influence on children.
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Finally, in an effort to suppress gang activity, Monrovia
partners with adjacent city Duarte, which is patrolled
by Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department deputies,
to conduct gang sweeps and share information about
known or suspected gang members. The program is
called DAMAGE, for Duarte and Monrovia Anti-Gang
Enforcement.
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“For a small agency,” Hunt said, “we strive to be innovative
and creative in finding solutions for our community.” •
Spring 2012
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