Gang Prevention Specialist to Address Schenectady Middle Schoolers

Ron "Cook" Barrett, Capital Region Gang Prevention Specialist will be talking with the students at all three Schenectady Middle Schools over the course of the next week about the importance of making good choices, bullying, gangs and gang involvement.   Barrett, who has been working with inner-city youth for more than 20 years, reaches out to kids in schools and on the streets, trains law enforcement officers, and educates communities on identifying and preventing gangs in the community. 

Barrett was hired by the City of Albany’s Department of Youth and Workforce Services in 1999 and implemented a Gang Prevention Program that was recognized by the National Gang Crime Research Center in Chicago as an exemplary program in 2001.  He currently serves as the gang prevention specialist with the Albany Police Department.  He works with schools, agencies and detentions facilities throughout the day and in the evening reaches out to kids who are involved in gang activity.

He is a lecturer for the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, the Middle Atlantic Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network (MAGLOCLEN), and the East Coast Gang Investigators Association (ECGIA).  He has trained more than 8,000 law enforcement officers, presented to over 10,000 youth, and provided numerous seminars nationally and internationally.  He educates communities and law enforcement agencies on identifying and preventing gangs as well as the effects they have on a community.

Barrett was presented with a number of awards including the 2001 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award, the New York State Governor’s Dr. King Leadership Award in 2004 and the 2008 New Jersey Gang Investigator’s Association Award for his outstanding prevention and intervention efforts.

Barrett will visit all three of Schenectady’s middle schools.  He will be at Mont Pleasant on Wednesday, Central Park Middle School on November 12 at 9 a.m. and Oneida Middle School on November 14 at 9 a.m.

Barrett's visit is made possible through the Safe Schools Healthy Students grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which provides students, schools, and communities with funding to implement activities and services that focus on preventing violence as well as alcohol and other drug abuse.