The Santa Ana Unified School District Police Department entered into a Gang Prevention and Intervention Partnership (GRIP) with the Orange County District Attorney's Office (OCDA), Orange County Probation Department, and Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) aimed at keeping youth in school and out of gangs.  

Through the GRIP initiative, partners identify at-risk youth (4th - 8th grade students) in Santa Ana and work to increase their school attendance and discourage participation in gang activity.  Santa Ana GRIP partners collaborate to host informational parent, student, and faculty meetings, conduct curfew sweeps in high-volume gang activity areas, and perform truancy sweeps at homes of students with excessive absences.  GRIP incentives such as tickets to professional sporting events are offered to students, who improve their attendance and grades and complete the school year with no gang activity or affiliation.

In September 2011, the educational component of the program - GRIP II was implemented county-wide.  This component includes OCDA staff members volunteering their time to conduct school faculty presentations on how to mentor at-risk students.  Through an on-campus parent greeter program, volunteers train parents on how to keep neighborhoods safe and gang-free through neighborhood watch.  The OCDA volunteers, along with police and probation officers, also give student presentations to at-risk youth regarding negative consequences of joing gangs and the positive effects of staying in school.

The selection of the following school sites represents all four quadrants of the Santa Ana Unified School District. GRIP I: Davis, Diamond, Kennedy, Lincoln, Monte Vista, Roosevelt and Villa GRIP II: Adams, Edison, Fremont, Lowell, Madison and Pio Pico 

For further information, please contact:

SAUSD Police Department GRIP Coordinators

Sergeant Hill & Sergeant Harris

Office: (714) 558-5535

john.hill@sausd.us 

brian.harris@sausd.us