CHARLOTTE, N.C. --

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“I wish they were playing video games or at the mall.”

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That’s a strange statement for a school truant officer to make. But CMPD Office Thomas J. Wishon is sincere when he says it.

“Today’s society, especially around this neighborhood, crime has gotten bad,” he said.

The neighborhood is Hidden Valley in north Charlotte. Wishon is not working at a high school; he’s at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.

He works here weekdays before his normal police shift. This is made possible by an $8,000 federal grant called Project Safe Neighborhood.

Wishon has been at this for about a year and says when he first came here; he was very surprised by what he found.

“It’s shocking to find out 10, 11, 12, 13-year-olds are in a gang; it’s alarming,” he said.

Last year Safe Neighborhood began as a pilot program at MLK. It had success and school officials want to keep it around as long as they can.

“Since we’ve started this program, our attendance has increased tremendously,” said Kim Y. Pickett. Pickett is the social worker at the school. Before Project Safe Neighborhood began, she had the daunting task of reducing truancy by herself.

In less than two years, attendance has increased more than 2 percent, and is now at 95.4 percent. In a school of around 900 students, that 2 percent increase equals nearly 20 kids. Kids that were missing school are now where they are suppose to be, not out potentially getting into trouble.

The trouble Pickett wants her students to avoid is gang activity. Skipping school and hanging out with much older people and breaking the law is a temptation in this neighborhood.

“They are at the developmental phase where they’re trying to seek an identity, trying to fit in. So, whatever it takes, unfortunately, they are willing to do so they can be part of a group,” Picket said.

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So with the temptation out there, with pressure from older teens to join a gang, how are a police officer and a social worker at an elementary school making a difference?

They are taking their message to the people.

Every morning, Wishon starts his day by patrolling Hidden Valley. He looks for middle school age children wandering around the neighborhood. He said the woods and abandoned homes are the favorite hang-outs these days.

Children he finds, he brings into school. Then the real preventative work begins. At school, Wishon and Pickett visit classrooms along with Gang of One speakers. They educate kids on what can go wrong in thier lives if they make bad decisions.

Then Wishon and Pickett make house calls. They hand deliver notices to parents of absent children. They talk about North Carolina school attendance law and let parents know what the rules are and what their kids are up to.

In addition, they try to help families solve problems that may be contributing to absenteeism and bad behavior.

A police officer showing up at the door can make some parents apprehensive.

“Once we explain we’re trying to prevent them from having to face legal matters, they really get excited and say how glad they are to have someone concerned. A lot of times they are not aware of what their children are doing in school,” said Pickett.

“We have success stories from top to bottom. Kids were missing 14 days of school, now they’re missing none. Kids were skipping class, we let their mom or dad know, now missing none. We had kids that wouldn’t talk to any kind of authority figure, now they are coming to us to vent and talk every day. I think this is a great preventative program,” said Wishon.

This police officer gets excited and pumped up just talking about what he does here. He says working with middle school children is rewarding, because he knows what he does will pay off in a big way down the road.

“These kids will be in charge of everything when I’m old and gray. It’s important to help them grow up right,” said Wishon.

To that end, Wishon and Pickett are organizing a workshop for parents and students on March 11 at the school. They hope the community will come in large numbers, ask questions, get informed and work together to make a real difference in childrens' lives.

To hear from Pickett and Wishon, check the sidebar of this article. You will also find other gang stories, videos and resources there.