Excerpted from The Sacramento Bee
By Ed Aguilar
April 3, 1997

Invoking a phrase that would make executives at one famous sneaker company cringe, Sacramento County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Cooper has a simple message about gangs and drugs: "Just don't do it."

In a talk given at Foulks Ranch Elementary School last week, Cooper cautioned sixth graders that as they ender middle school they will confront a fork in their lives path. There, many kids will make decision about gangs and drugs. Cooper told them to avoid both.

"Kids at this age are more susceptible to gang and drug recruitment," he said. "People in Laguna think they're not out here, but they are. The influence is out here and it needs to be affirmed that (gangs and drugs) are not all right."

A Laguna resident, Cooper said that of the 100 or more talk he gives each year, the one disheartening fact about his discussion is that parents seldom attend them.

As part of his effort to combat drugs and gang, Cooper gives presentations to thousands of area students that show them the negative aspect of drug and gang involvement. Using a display of paraphernalia collected during his work as a narcotics detective, Cooper utilizes a frank, in-your-face style as he describes their effects to groups starting at the sixth grade level.

He circulated graphic photos to Foulks Ranch student which showed apprehended drug abusers with contusions in their legs as big as 3 inches in diameter. The small craters were spot in users' bodies where repeated injections of drugs like heroin and crank caused the flesh around affected blood vessels to deteriorate.

The officer said he reaches out to sixth graders with the dramatic displays because they are at a critical crossroad in their lives. At that age, Cooper said, they are young and vulnerable to bad influences, but can also distinguish between right and wrong.

Coopers presentations are just one facet of a community wide effort Laguna residents hope will help curb the amount of crime in the area. Laguna is fighting the flow of crime as residential development creeps toward Interstate 5. Misdemeanor vandalism and theft are the most commonly reported crimes, but residents are fed up with the growing frequency and severity of their losses. Many are now asking what they can do to help.

"We had just gotten to the point where we were tired of the number of minor crimes, and we didn't want those to escalate into more major crimes," area resident Bill Kemery said.

Kemery and others living in the Meridian area reflected the attitude of surrounding neighborhoods recently when the Meridian Neighborhood Association met to discuss alternatives.

Approximately 70 homeowners listened to Camden Neighborhood Association president Sam Anderson explain how his group 250 members pay for part-time Sacramento County Sheriff patrol in their neighborhood.