A FORMER gang member who spent time in jail says every child is at risk of getting involved in gang crime and urges parents need to look out for warning signs.

Speaking at a Gwent Police event yesterday, Londoner Junior Smart shared his experience of serious and organised crime to a packed audience of police staff and representatives from partner agencies.

Speaking about gang crime he said: “Any young person is at risk of getting involved. It’s not just from one demographic or deprived communities, we are seeing middle class kids get involved. Every young kid is at risk of potentially carrying a knife to feel safe.”

He added that parents need to be aware of who their children are with and what they are doing at all times.

“Parents should look out for children going missing from the home, they need to go into their children’s rooms and check it out and look for anything suspicious. Train tickets are often a sign.

“They need to be internet aware and take an active interest in what your son or daughter are doing. That is quite easy, you can actually log into a wifi hub and check the history so you can see what they are look at. I think it is really important because parental awareness is key.

“Parents should also get to know other parents. They often think they are doing things in isolation, but get to know your child’s friend’s parents because what tends to happen is that they play children off one another. They live a dualistic lifestyle and if parents lean on each other for support it becomes harder for a young person to lie or make excuses about where they are.”

Mr Smart founded the SOS Project, a multi award-winning service which offers support to vulnerable young people to help those involved in the criminal justice system and carry out preventative work with those at risk.

He spent three days with Gwent Police and saw officers and staff in action and shared his findings at yesterday’s event.

He said: “I was sharing my knowledge and experience, but also showing my findings and evaluation of what their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities are.

“Gwent is at the point London was 11 years ago. There is some violence but it is not as prolific.

“There is violence on the street, issues of county lines and the demographic which are turning to organised crime and drugs and a community are living in fear and oppression. You have the police on the ground trying to do as much as they can to address the issue.

“The services are front loaded whereas they need more depth and that can only come with resources on the ground and engagement with the voluntary services.

“The force is largely reactive and while there is engagement with the voluntary sector they still lack multi-information share between agencies which would help them gather a richer picture of not only the people involved but their families and their partners.

“One of the strengths that they acknowledge that there is a problem and that there is a county lines issue, they are not in denial.

“The very fact that I am here shows that they are willing to take on board perspectives.”