Crime & Safety
Troubled Teens Getting Help From Ministers, Police
The Rev. Kerwin Lee of Stone Mountain will coordinate the effort.
The DeKalb County Police Department is partnering with local ministers and schools to create an after-school program aimed at helping troubled teens.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander is recruiting ministers to partner with high schools to identify students whose truancy or troubles with the law will likely lead them to prison rather than graduation. “I’m not talking about the kid who is a B student and who wants to be an A student,” Alexander said. “I’m talking about the kid who is barely coming to school.”
The ministers involved say they have been disturbed by recent high-profile crimes that have been linked to juveniles and agreed they wanted to help. “The church has basically been silent on crime,” said Bishop Quincy Carswell, senior pastor at Covenant Ministries Cathedral. “We’re doing a lot of funerals.”
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The Rev. Kerwin Lee of Berean Christian Church in Stone Mountain will be coordinating the effort.
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