THREE-STEP SEQUENCE
1. IDENTIFY & MEDIATE CONFLICTS
On a screen Engel can see a map of the beats. When violence increases between two gangs, the area colours red. The data comes from the ground workers of his team, called ‘interrupters’. They find out about rising tensions and committed violence. Always connected to the system, they immediately send this data to the FCRC. When the office head sees a ‘hot spot’, they dispatch the interrupters to the rivaling gangs to mediate a truce.
2. DEAL WITH HIGH-RISK INDIVIDUALS
Like tuberculosis or HIV, the violence needs a ‘transporter’, an infected person who carries the illness to others. The interrupters will target individuals instead of blaming an entire gang for committing a crime. The ground workers are able to speak on a level with the gangsters, because they are – for the most part – former gang members, knowing the ‘street language’. Engel’s team puts each interrupter to the acid test to find out, if they bring enough credibility with them. To be more precise: they ask every gang, if they trust this person or not. As a result, they can choose the suitable interrupter for each case.
3. CHANGING THE COMMUNITY MIND SET
Engel understands his work also as an assignment from God. He wants ‘to make better people’ and adds: ‘but you can only make that which you are.’ Showing an alternative to violence, he wants to change people’s mind set. Consequently his team trains and develops other churches in this methodology on the entire peninsula. An important aim is to change the community’s idea that violence is normal. People live with fear every day and as a result they have come to accept it. Engel and his team want to change this.
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