Two students have been arrested and charged as law enforcement ramped up their anti-gang campaign within Westmoreland schools. The arrests stem from an incident in the week ending January 13, 2023, where another student of Godfrey Stewart High allegedly assaulted and robbed by other students. At least one of whom alleged was armed with a machete.
All the teenagers involved have gotten suspended from school. At the same time, two of them were arrested and charged with robbery with aggravation and unlawful wounding.
And according to Superintendent Wayne Josephs, head of the Westmoreland Police Division, the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Division (C-TOC) Branch has been assisting in tackling the issue of gangs in schools across the parish.
“C-TOC has a tailor-made program for this kind of behavior within schools,” Josephs said Thursday, January 19, 2023. “They will be coming down to have several lectures with Godfrey Stewart and, going forward, with other schools.”
Wayne Josephs
He added that the Victim Services Unit, the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, and the Community Safety and Security Branch of the police force would also be engaged.
Josephs said CCTV footage of the incident captured last week indicated law enforcement would have to double their efforts to counter gangs in schools immediately.
“It has been known for a while that gangs are being recruited in schools. And this is not unique to Godfrey Stewart. Still, what we see playing out is a reflection of what we see in the communities that these students come from,” he said, noting that school resource officers are deployed to these schools daily and are in constant dialogue with students, parents, and school staff.
Wayne Josephs
“ … It is unfortunate that we have to consider having random operations within these schools.”
Josephs also noted that the situation is so bad that security guards posted at the gates of some schools are afraid to ask students to open their bags for searches.
One thought on “Police charged two Westmoreland students with gang connections with robbery.”