Page 32 - December 2015

“Stomping Out Drugs & Gangs,” a nonprofit foundation started in 2003, grew out of the 1999 fatal shootings of Latonya Haggerty and Robert Russ.
Responding to growing pressure, and acknowledging heightened concerns in the African American community, Police Commander Mark Davis called upon officers on his staff to put together a plan to safeguard individuals who are stopped by the police. Marco Johnson, a former police academy instructor, and some of his colleagues suggested training young people on the do’s and don’ts of a traffic stop. This idea not only found favor with the Chicago Police Department, but with the Chicago Board of Educa- tion and Allstate Insurance Company. A video was made on the streets of Chicago, featuring Johnson, called “You Don’t Know Squat,” and was shown in driver’s education classes in Chicago.
Johnson, a 28-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, was born in Italy, but grew up in Chicago Housing Authority projects and the Humboldt Park area. If not for the grace of God, Marco could have found himself on the wrong side of the law: gangs, drugs, and the dangerous temptations of the streets were a part of the communities where he spent his adolescent life. He wit- nessed firsthand the shooting of two childhood friends.
While continuing to participate in the “You Don’t Know Squat” program, Johnson, who also served in the U.S. Army, created “Hip Hop Wednesdaze,” which is still going on in the 6th District every Wednesday when Officers open the police station to youth and parents for games, food, trips and other entertainment. The program has also led to Youth Forums at Southside area high schools, “Strikeout Tournaments” and the “Take Back Our Parks Police Flag Football League.”
In an effort to address the recent violence in Chicago’s high schools and the surrounding suburbs, Stomping Out Gangs & Drugs offers PAL programs in several of the City’s and suburbs’ most troubled high school neighborhoods. The National PAL Mentoring Initiative implements youth mentoring programs that strengthen and expand mentor- ing services to at-risk/high-risk youth populations and youth with enlisted parents, through PAL chapters.
Officer Marco Johnson
Stomping Out Drugs & Gangs
32 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2015