On Wednesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., said he will send state troopers into Suffolk County schools to help stamp out the MS-13 gang.
Ten state troopers will go to ten different schools to train and assist teachers and administrators to identify gang members, and at-risk students.
“The breeding ground is the schools. And schools are where a lot of these gangs actually operate. That’s where they recruit, that’s where they intimidate, that’s where they meet: in the schools.”
Cuomo would not identify the specific schools the troopers will be sent to, but they will be in the Brentwood, Central Islip, Huntington, Longwood, Wyandanch, and the South Country Central School Districts.
“This is a problem that the school system does not deal with. If you are a schoolteacher, you are not a person equipped to deal with gang violence. It’s not in your job description.”
Cuomo made his announcement on the first anniversary of the murders of two teenage girls at the hands of MS-13 members. Suffolk County police say the gang is responsible for 17 murders in the County since January of 2016.
