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GREENSBORO — If Greensboro hopes to have a significant impact on eliminating gang activity, one of the key steps will be making teenagers a priority.

Is the city doing enough to fight the gang problem? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

That message echoed loudly throughout the Odeon Theater at the Greensboro Coliseum Monday night, as police and community officials discussed combating drug and gang activity at an educational awareness forum.

Often times, what drives kids to gang activity is simply the desire to belong and hold a common bond with someone around them, police said.

"They have done this (joined gangs) as means of a support system for themselves," said Capt. John Wolfe, who heads the Greensboro Police Department's investigations support division, which contains the newly organized gang unit.

"There is something in their home that is missing, it may be that they are missing love, attention or affection," Wolfe said, noting that under their guise, gangs are an outlet for teens to turn to as a way to address such shortcomings.

By doing so, gangs are "exploiting our youth," Wolfe said, noting that parents should be just as concerned with gang recruitment for criminal activity as they would be if a predator was chatting with their teen online for sex.

"Gang activity is similar to that. We have adults taking advantage of our young people — recruiting them for the purpose of committing criminal activity," Wolfe said.

Making teenagers a priority in the community is the key to addressing the problem that leads kids into gang activity, said Darryl Kosciak, Youth First coordinator for the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department and an organizer with the Hope Project, an anti-gang effort in Guilford County.

That could include something like opening up the doors to recreational facilities or churches on the weekend for youth to play basketball or to socialize or giving them an alternative to a life on the streets or in situations where criminal activity can flourish.

"(You need to ask) What can I do on my street? What can I do in my church? What can I do with my civic group?" Kosciak said.

"If you live on a particular street, you don't need to be worried about teenagers all over the city — you need to be worried about the teenagers on your street."

It all starts with simply "going up and saying hello," to a teenager and making him feel that someone cares, Kosciak said.

Monday night's forum was originally scheduled for Oct. 29, but was postponed after concerns were brought to city council organizers that it unfairly targeted black youth in the community.

But police and residents in attendance revoked that claim, saying that gang activity is a community problem that should heed no racial boundaries.

"We don't target. We don't have the time or inclination to target kids. That's not what we are all about," Wolfe said of the gang unit.

"We investigate crimes and we go wherever that investigation leads us. If that investigation leads us to your child and your child is a child that we can save, we care much more about saving that child than introducing them to a criminal justice system that will likely fail them."

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or rseals@news-record.com