Orange County combats gang activity

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - If you think your child is too young to be persuaded by a gang, think again. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings wants to make sure kids of all ages stay on the right path.

Central Florida has at least 45 gangs, according to law enforcement agencies which track the activity. As a response, Orange County has rolled out an anti-gang program directed at middle-schoolers, featuring former professional wrestler -- turned motivational speaker -- Marc Mero.

"They're looking for a family. They're looking for acceptance,” said Mero at a presentation on Friday. “And that's why so many of these kids turn to gangs."

Mero is helping Sheriff Demings spread the word that kids have a choice to make. Sheriff Demings tells said gangs start recruiting kids around 15 years of age, so getting to them when they're ten, eleven or twelve is crucial.

"We have this opportunity to focus on prevention … to stop people from getting involved in gang activity early and that's why that's a critical age,” said Demings. "Gang members are looking for those kids that are just wandering around. So it's the perfect time. If we catch them early, tell them what the signs are ... maybe they'll know."

The anti-gang program, know as the G.R.E.A.T. program, has been around for years helping kids like Dion Bryant, who said a month ago, he was very close to going down the wrong path.

"I thought about doing some bad things and then the G.R.E.A.T. program came in … and kind of influenced me to do the right thing," Bryant said.

Sheriff Demings said Orange County alone has around 700 gang members. To learn more about the anti-gang program, visit the Orange County Sheriff’s Office website .
 

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On the web:

http://ocso.com/OperationalServices/SpecialOpsandInvestigations/GangSquad/tabid/170/Default.aspx