Gang violence spreading in valley, state senator says

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

A gang-related shooting at Clark High School Monday afternoon underscores the need for a state commission created to ward off school violence, its chairwoman said Monday.

The 11-member Commission on School Safety and Juvenile Violence, created by the 1999 Legislature after the school shooting in Littleton, Colo., met for the first time last week in Carson City.

State Sen. Valerie Wiener, D-Las Vegas, was elected as its chairman on Thursday.

Wiener, who has studied youth gangs for years, said there are at least 200 gangs in Southern Nevada with more than 7,700 identified members. In contrast, Metro Police reported about 5,000 gang members in 1995.

"This (shooting) incident underscores the need for the commission," Wiener said Monday afternoon from her Las Vegas office.

While the 15- and 16-year-old shooting victims were both males, Wiener said that she has found that 30 percent of gang members are female.

And Southern Nevada gangs are found in every neighborhood whether in North Las Vegas, Green Valley, Las Vegas or Summerlin, she said.

"Violence is the thread from the time they get into gangs until the time they exit," Wiener said. "We have no immune communities here, we have no gated protection against it."

Wiener will publish a book in November titled, "Winning the War Against Youth Gangs." The book tracks 270 troubled teenagers from 10 states who Wiener interviewed.

Sadly, gang members do not anticipate a future, most do not expect to live beyond their 20s, Wiener said. "And 98 percent of them said they would not want their own children to become gang members," she noted.

The family is the primary source of support in a child's life, but education, law enforcement, law-making, local businesses and volunteer programs all affect whether a child succeeds or fails, she said.

As commission leader, Wiener said her first job will be to draft an emergency response plan for schools.

The commission has already learned that most teachers are not trained in how to manage their classrooms to avoid violence in the first place, she said.

"We will have an emergency response plan in the governor's hands by the first of January," Wiener promised. "We need to act very quickly."

"We will respond to this incident," she said of the shooting.

Local school boards have to adopt individual plans matching the state's plan by July 1.

Wiener also is chairman of the Juvenile Justice Interim Study Committee.

Leonard Paul, Clark County schools assistant superintendent, said the school system is aware that gangs are present in the student population. But school officials don't know how many young people are involved in youth gangs.

"Generally, schools are neutral zones," Paul said. The young people don't wear "colors" identifying them as gang members in school, he said.

Christopher Kearney, UNLV associate professor and child psychology specialist, said while instances of school violence are actually less frequent than people think, Southern Nevada's explosive growth could fuel more violence in local schools.

"As we grow more, we are going to see more of this," Kearney said. "Growth will attract more of the violent youths, especially from California."