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Montgomery County Police officers at the 5th District station are developing an anti-gang program for Germantown fifth-graders.

Capt. Thomas Didone, commander of the 5th District station, said his citizen's advisory board came up with the idea during its January meeting. If elementary school principals and the school system endorse it, the program would start at the beginning of next school year, he said during a meeting of the Upcounty Citizens Advisory Board on Monday.

Officers would spend two to three days a week introducing students to the positive side of police work and deterring them from criminal lifestyles, Didone said after the meeting.

"We've found that a lot of students are trying to figure which way to go at that age," Community Service Officer Marcus Dixon said after the meeting. "We want to get to them before the gangs do, while it's still cool to talk to the police."

Dr. George W. Knox, director of the National Gang Crime Research Center in Illinois, said students already know about gangs by the time they reach sixth grade. Knox, who teaches a youth gang violence class at Chicago State University, said young children, especially fifth-graders, are more likely to get involved with gangs without intervention.

"Young children who end up in gangs often are missing a respect for law enforcement," Knox said. "By intervening in their lives at an early age and teaching them to respect law enforcement ages, you stand a chance at keeping them out of gangs."

Didone said police have arrested gang members who have siblings in elementary school.

"That means the child may have been exposed to gang life," he said.

Dixon and Didone will meet with principals about the program, but one elementary school principal said she would love to have a program like it at her school.

Judy Brubaker, principal at Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School, said the school used to have the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program for fifth-graders. The program helped students understand the role of police officers, she said. Didone said the county's former police chief wanted to replace D.A.R.E. with G.R.E.A.T. (Gang Resistance Education and Training), but left the police department before the change. No one continued D.A.R.E, he said.

"As fifth-graders, they are at an age when they develop positive relationships," Brubaker said. "It's a wonderful idea to have a program like that in the schools as the students benefit by building relationships with the police."