Adults encouraged to be role models to steer children from gangs

SANDY — If you're going to take a juvenile away from his friends or even his own family to get him out of a gang, you need to replace that void with something else.

That was part of the message delivered Thursday morning by 3rd District Juvenile Judge Andrew Valdez during the keynote address of the 20th annual Utah Gang Conference.

More than 900 law enforcers, community activists and educators from across the United States are attending the two-day event.

Valdez grew up on Salt Lake City's west side and still lives there today, much to the disbelief of some who note the judge can afford to live in a better neighborhood if he chooses. But in order for juveniles to steer away from gangs, they need good adult role models, he said. Valdez, who often visits schools to talk to at-risk youths and parents, believes for a community to make changes, he needs to help set an example and let young people in his own neighborhood see they don't have to join gangs.

From summer 2008 through the early part of 2009, there were several high-profile gang-related homicides that sparked a community outcry for action.

A 7-year-old girl was playing in her front yard in July 2008 when she was shot and killed during a drive-by shooting intended for members of her family inside her house near 800 West and 1100 South, just a few blocks from Valdez's house.

In January 2009, a 16-year-old Kearns High School student was shot and killed a block away from the school. The following month, an 18-year-old man was taken to a West Valley golf course and shot execution-style. The alleged mastermind behind the plot was a 14-year-old rival gang member.

When the parents of the 7-year-old girl were later interviewed, they said they had no idea their children were in a gang. Valdez said it's something he's heard all too often. He recalled one of his court cases in which a 12-year-old boy had a giant "13" tattooed across his chest. His parents, both of whom worked and were rarely home, not only weren't aware that their son was in a gang, but they had no idea he had the large tattoo.

In another case, Valdez met an 11-year-old boy who was in juvenile detention for carrying a loaded gun in his neighborhood.

"I asked him, 'Why are you carrying?' He said, 'It gives me power, gives me respect,' " Valdez said.

Valdez then took the boy from his cell to show him what respect really was.

"You think you have power?" he asked the boy. "You live in a cell no bigger than a couch. You live behind a fence. You can't even open the (cell) door. Where's your power? Let me show you freedom. That's power."