Douglas County has lots of gangs in its schools although many people don’t want to hear it, said John Williams, a Douglasville resident with extensive nationwide gang prevention experience.

Williams was the guest speaker at the noon Monday Rotary Club of Douglas County meeting at the Douglasville Downtown Conference Center.

“There’s lots of gangs you’ve never heard of, but they’re here,” he said.

Williams said he grew up with gangs on the west side of Chicago and later worked 25 years with gangs in his position with the Colorado Division of Youth Correction (DYC), before retiring in 2004. He is a Certified Domestic Violence Counselor and criminal justice specialist.

He said gangs recruit new members in schools, churches, clubs, alternative schools, shopping malls, military and many other places. He said Latino gangs are among the fastest growing in America.

Williams criticized alternative school ombudsmen programs which he said don’t help youths.

“They have no counseling,” he said. “The students go back to school the same way they left. Nobody says anything about behavior.”

Williams listed the different types of gangs from the traditional through those for business, white hate, copycat and delinquent social.

He said kids join gangs because they want the structure, nurturing, sense of belonging. peer pressure, economic opportunity, excitement and protection.

“It gives them something to live by and fills the void of the family,” he said. “Many gang members have street names that are unknown to their families.”

Williams said gang members join by committing crimes or by being recruited.

Although there’s many traditional gang members, there’s also many “wanna-bes,” he said.

“These are really the most dangerous because they’ll do anything to show they’re hard,” he said.

Williams said parents should learn to recognize the clothing, colors, emblems, hand signs and graffiti of gangs.

“You see a lot of graffiti,” he said. “You need to know what’s going on, how they use it to mark their territory, cross out rival gang graffiti and create violence.”

He said gangs use the Internet to communicate through texting and postings on sites such as YouTube and mySpace.

Williams called on parents to take back their community. He said they should sharpen their skills in gang recognition.

“Talk to and listen to your child,” he advised. “Put a high value on education and help your children identify positive role models.”

He said more gang violence is coming here unless gangs can be identified early in school and stopped.