JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Opening your door to police officers in tactical vests can be a scary sight.
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It’s a Thursday morning and at your door is the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office gang unit, but in this moment, they’re not looking to arrest you, they want to help you. They’re working with the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) program. It’s an effort to get gang members or people in a troubled lifestyle, a way out.
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“You’re a young man, you had to make some decisions, some of those decisions, and the reason why my guys are noted on that is because you’ve been online or hanging out with individuals that we consider to be gangs or groups of violence,” JSO Lieutenant Ricky Valentine said. “Because of that, whether or not you’re in them or you’re associated with them, you’re putting yourself in danger.”
The help comes in a form of a phone call.
“Mr. Garland, he’s ready to talk,” an officer says over radio.
Action News Jax joined them on recently when they spoke with someone who could be in danger.
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“If they spotted you and told us to come talk to us, that’s a blessing,” Garland Scott said.
The man behind the prevention efforts is Garland Scott, who was a former gang member in New York.
“If you see a person on a social media page with an AK-47 and his friend just got shot, we know what you’re doing; it’s called ‘get back’,” Scott said. “You didn’t do it yet, but we know where you’re headed. We step in to stop that and help you go down another road.”
Scott said sometimes they help relocate you, help you understand child support and the system, among several other initiatives within the program.
“We set them up with mental health counseling, we set them up with job opportunities, we have over 100 different supporters and partners we can get them work and assistance,” Scott said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said there are 32 gangs in Jacksonville and 560 documented gang members. Scott said they’ve been bringing the number down over the years.
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Scott said to take that step isn’t always easy, but it could be a life changing choice.
“I have two rules, number one, don’t lie to me and number two, don’t trust me yet because I don’t trust you,” he said. “You want to go any further in this endeavor, here’s my number call me.”
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the GVI unit has roughly a 45 percent call back percentage and about a 30 percent success rate, saying at least 330 people have gotten out of that lifestyle since the program began back in 2016.
They met with two people on our trip but not without a little digging.
“He gave us a false address on his last contact, that’s not going to be it,” Lt. Valentine said.
After someone pulled into a house they were looking into, they spoke with a grandmother and her friend.
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“Our main thing is to keep them safe alive and out of prison,” he told family members.
The first step out and moving forward is something Scott said can take time.
“Some aren’t ready for a job, you’ve been making $350 a day selling t-shirts, blunts, food, seafood, you got to ball out because everybody looking at you, when you don’t even know how to budget money, then you’ve got child support issues, the minute you get a job you have no money, then you don’t have a drivers license,” Scott said.
While not everyone will answer the door, they’ll leave notes at the door. Sometimes, it’s the last stop of the day that can provide high hopes.
“Was that the person you were looking for?” Action News Jax Ben Ryan asked.
“Yes, the first contact person was at the door, he was a little nervous, his mom wasn’t receptive to police but Lt. Valentine talked her down, kept calling her momma bear and we’re going to work it out, so we will get a call back from him, go back and get intake and help him stay alive and stay out of prison,” Scott said.
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