PROGRAM URGES SELF-RELIANCE IN TEEN-AGERS

JACKSON -- Ron Hobeck is teaching kids to stay away from gangs one study hall at a time.

He's the G.R.E.A.T. officer who handles the Gang Resistance Education and Training course in Jackson. Eighth-grade students at R.O. Hawkins Junior High School spend one study hall a week for nine weeks with Hobeck, learning how to avoid gangs and respect themselves.

It took two 75-hour weeks in Tucson, Ariz., to train Hobeck for the job. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms provided the G.R.E.A.T. training and materials to start the program.

Hobeck, a patrolman and detective with the Jackson Police Department, called the training the "most intense" of his life. He learned how to identify gang members, what sort of behavior to expect from them and why they act the way they do. He also learned how to communicate with junior high school students and teach lessons.

Some don't believe there is a need for gang resistance education in Jackson, Hobeck said, but the time to start is before gangs arrive.

"They come where it is quiet and officers don't know them," he said. "It isn't a black thing, and it isn't a male thing. It doesn't matter which gender you are or which culture you come from."

A current trend has been for Jackson youths to go to Cape Girardeau, hang out in areas frequented by gang members, and then bring their new friends home, Hobeck said.

G.R.E.A.T. teaches about the impact of crime on victims and neighborhoods, how gangs and drugs interfere with peaceful neighborhoods and why they must resolve conflicts without using violence. Students learn sensitivity toward other cultures and the harmful results of prejudice.

Finally, they learn to set goals and strive to meet them.

Hobeck avoids discussion about gang symbols, colors and traits. The point is encouraging youngsters to avoid gangs, not educating them about gang life, he said.

To complete the course, students must finish a workbook that helps them prepare to reject a gang lifestyle.

"I don't force them to do anything," Hobeck said. "If they don't want to discuss anything, I don't make them.

"At first they're shy because they just see me as a cop, but by the end of the course, they're asking a lot of questions and seeing me as a person."

Students who complete the course receive certificates.

The teens' reactions to G.R.E.A.T. generally have been positive. Mary Brooks, 13, went through the training. She said she feels people are blind to gang influences in Jackson, but some of her peers are gang members. They know she doesn't agree with their lifestyle.

"The best thing to do is just walk away," Brooks said.

Her classmate, 14-year-old James Amelunke, agreed.

"There are a lot of people who want to join gangs, but I don't," he said. "They are too mean, and they carry guns. The best thing to do is leave them alone."

David Sander, 13, said G.R.E.A.T. taught him how to stay out of trouble, including avoiding gang members and never promising to do anything for them.

As the course becomes better established in the Jackson schools, Hobeck said he hoped for more parental involvement and support.