Ex-gang member: Arrests not enough

HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) - Holland Mayor Kurt Dykstra said he is "very, very pleased" with Tuesday's 28 gang-related arrests and expects it will put a big dent in solving the gang issues in West Michigan. But not everyone agrees.

Twenty-eight people listed in a 31-person federal indictment were arrested Tuesday -- all of whom, authorities say, have connections to the Holland Latin Kings.

An ex-gang member told 24 Hour News 8 for that every gang member arrested Tuesday, two more will soon join. He said these 28 arrests are just a bandage on the growing gang problem here.

"My question would be, 'OK what happens now?'" said former gang member Willie Watt. "You can arrest a lot of these kids and you can put them in jail, but what happens when they get out?"

He said without opportunities, the same people will go back to the gangs. Watt knows because he joined a gang when he was 11 and stayed a member into adulthood.

"That's pretty much all I knew," he said.

He doesn't think the recent arrests are a waste of time and money, but said they can't be the final step in stopping gangs. That is why he co-founded a Holland club for kids called Escape. Many of the kids who attend are gang members -- some of the Latin Kings.  

"We don't even tell them get out the gangs," said Watt. "We show them here's another opportunity, here's another choice you can make."

Escape helps kids find employment or other passions in life -- and that's what Watt thinks the City needs to focus on.

"We are saying that we are getting gang members off the street and in some cases that's true, but there are two or three pop up everyday," said Watt. "There are smaller gangs that's fashioned now that's hanging out together."

Watt said Holland High School has more than 200 students not living at home.

"That's why the gang population is rising, because a lot of the kids are not with their parents," he said.

He feels these arrests could be the perfect time for teens to make a change and get out of gang life.

"I think it's going to have a positive effect because now kids are going to stop and think, 'OK, do I want to go to jail?'"

Watt said Asian and African-American gangs are growing even larger in Holland. He hopes the City will focus just as much resources on opportunities for teens as they do making arrests.