Although the outline of the officers’ bulletproof vests still showed beneath their blue polos, and guns glared from holsters on their belts, they smiled kindly at the room full of elementary school children jammed into the humid Pine Ridge Community Center.
One-by-one, the children waited to stand with GPD Officer Mose Rochelle, who rested his hands on their shoulders and praised them for their contributions to the summer camp.
Then, he handed them diplomas.
“This community is important because you are important,” he said.
On Friday, 12 children graduated from the five-day pilot program GREAT. GPD hosted the summer camp in a low-income housing complex in northwest Gainesville.
The international program GREAT — Gang Resistance Education and Training — was originally formed to combat a trend of large-city gangs recruiting elementary-age children to commit crimes, Rochelle said.
During the five-day camp, GPD officers taught children alternatives to using violence to settle disagreements, and they led the children in role playing to practice conflict management.
The Pine Ridge camp was the trial run for the violence prevention program in Gainesville, Rochelle said, and at least four more camps in other neighborhoods are slated for the summer.
“We’re going to be following up all over the city in all different kind of areas,” he said.
After the ceremony, 6-year-old Destiny stood by the window eating a cupcake. She grinned and said that “not fighting others” was her take-home application from the week.
Her mother, Cantrice Johnson, said the program reinforced positive social skills, such as “the polite way to make a friend.”
“It’s great,” she said. “It’s making kids different.”
Contact Kelcee Griffis at kgriffis@alligator.org.
