Gang Resistance Education and Training

The GREAT program first began in 1992 through a partnership between the Phoenix Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.  The Honolulu Police Department adopted this curriculum in 1999 to replace another program.

GREAT is designed to help middle school students become responsible members of their communities by setting goals for themselves, resisting gang and peer pressures, learning how to resolve conflicts, and understanding how gangs impact the quality of their lives. 

GREAT culminates with a certificate of graduation, a new philosophical outlook concerning gang activity, and the tools needed to resist gang pressure. 

The program components are as follows:

1. Providing information on laws, youth gangs, and drugs;
2. Increasing personal skills, such as the ability to refuse pressure from peers;
3. Improving participant’s self-esteem;
4. Involving parents in the program; and
5. Providing gang resistance, education, and training.

The Juvenile Services Division (JSD) police officers teach a 13-week curriculum to 7th graders at over 20 public intermediate and middle schools on Oahu.  Funding is provided by the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance.