Be Smart, Be Vigilant, Don’t Spread Rumors, Says Gang Interventionist

As Pasadena endures a new spate of shootings—11 reported between Oct. 22 and November 1—a noted local gang interventionist says it’s important for community members to be smart, to be vigilant, and to not add to ongoing rumors.

According to Pasadena police, one person has died and five people have been injured in the recent violence — three by gunfire, one by flying glass from a bullet-shattered window, and one from being pistol-whipped during a shooting.

“It’s important to understand,” says Gang Interventionist and “Violence Interrupter” Ricky Pickens, “that the community can contribute to the fears of others and the community can contribute to the peace of others, by what we say and what we learn, because we all hear different stories, but you don’t want to contribute to the rumor mill.”

Regardless of the reasons for the recent violence, not all of which is gang-related, says Pickens, local residents can help themselves by simply being practical.

“What people can do right now is just understand, first of all, just be vigilant, be watchful, and not just watchful, but also don’t create opportunities,” he explained. “If you need to go out to your car late at night and grab something out of your car, then grab somebody out of the house and take them with you, if you can.”

Pickens adds that this also applies to behavior behind the wheel.

“This is not the time to get into disagreements with people on the road,” he said. “They didn’t stop at the stop sign. Okay. Let’s be polite for a moment because I know that this is a very intense time.”

Pickens continued, “With all the shooting that’s going on, even though it may appear that it’s all gang-related, some of these things are just opportunities for crime, such as calling an Uber by yourself. This is not the time to do that because tensions are so high, try to Uber Share.”

“As Gang Interventionists and Violence Interrupters,” Pickens continued, “we’re just asking the community to be vigilant in terms of not creating opportunities for there to be violence.”

Pickens stresses, “We’re not saying ‘move in fear.’ We’re just saying, ‘move in caution.”

Much of the gang discussion also seems to center around the idea of “colors,” Pickens acknowledged, but as he explained, “In terms of attire, what I would say to the families, is that you don’t have to be a gang member to wear a certain attire, but we know, you know, what the colors are and the popular colors amongst gangs across the country.”

Pickens continued, “It’s red, blue, black, browns and all of that. And so we’re asking, try not to wear too much of the same color, and then learn from the youth of what the baseball teams and football teams are closely associated with gang-impacted areas.”

And it applies to all gangs, said Pickens, because, “As gang interventionists, we don’t cater to one side, we’re talking to all sides right now to understand the root causes of the problem.”

While cautious about the idea of stereotyping, Pickens says, “All of us need to understand and listen to the young people to know what’s the popular attire that gets associated with the local gangs in our immediate neighborhoods.”

More specifically speaking, Pickens points out, for example, that “Pasadena High School is red and white. So I get concerned about the kids going to school because they’re red and white.

“It’s just a neighborhood school color,” he continued, “but now with tensions being high, we’re saying, ‘Hey, on the trek between home and school, wait to get to school to wear your school colors, because we don’t want it to be misinterpreted from an outside entity.’”

It’s unknown at the moment whether the current gang tension is just local, said Pickens, but he added, “We also know that sometimes surrounding communities in LA County will bleed into Pasadena when there’s things going on in the community amongst gangs.”

As Pickens explains, his Gang Intervention team works to reduce gang-gun violence and help to restore peace in the community by directly engaging the people most impacted by cyclical and retaliatory gang-gun violence, whether perpetrator, victim or family member..

The team works directly with high-risk gang-impacted individuals daily across Pasadena and affiliated cities, including Monrovia, Duarte, San Bernardino, and Palmdale/Lancaster.

“We mediate conflicts,” said Pickens in the presentation. “We help to manage anger, by peer mentoring and offering support for day-to-day coping.”

Pickens said that his team also makes referrals to service providers to ensure that individuals at the center of gang-gun violence can pinpoint services that possibly will lead them to an alternative lifestyle.

The group uses a national best practice “Prevention, Intervention, Engagement and/or Enforcement” model, said Pickens.

Prevention consists of programs or activities designed to prevent youth from joining gangs, and reduce retaliation in violent incidents. Intervention seeks to draw gang members and close associates away from the gang lifestyle, and interrupt violence, while engagement and/or enforcement consists of more traditional law enforcement, prosecution, probation, and parole.

But, stresses Pickens, he is a resource for the community, not a messenger.

“It’s not about the police,” he emphasized. “The police have their own jobs to do. In fact, part of the intervention model is prevention, intervention, and enforcement. Our role is prevention and intervention. The police are going to do their role of enforcement. Our role is to try to educate our community, and to help dispel rumors, because sometimes people start to hear third-party information, and start to repeat that information, which can cause fear in other people.”

Pickens prefers to emphasize the relationships he holds in the community.

“Our role as interventionists is that we have deep relationships throughout the entire community to interrupt violence, and use those relationships with those who are close to the violence and to those who are not involved. They may know somebody closely involved, so we try to use our relationships coupled with their influence to help restore peace in the community.”