Kids and Crime: Youth Accountability Team, Part 2

News Channel 3 is going in-depth on kids and crime in the Coachella Valley.

The YAT program, which stands for Youth Accountability Team, works with young people in trouble, trying to get them to turn things around before it’s too late.

Deputy probation officer Adrian Olvera works with about 40 kids at any given time as head of a YAT team which also includes a deputy district attorney, law enforcement, and a youth outreach counselor.

He took us on a visit with one of the kids who’s a graduate of the YAT program who’s identity we’re not revealing because of his age.

The teenager was referred to the program by his school and his mother and then faced a shoplifting charge.

He told us he was scared when he faced that charge, thinking he was headed to court.

Instead, he got another chance.

The team includes youth outreach counselor Yesenia Regla from the Boys and Girls Club who does after school programming with the kids and covers life skills, anger management, drug and alcohol awareness and more.

Along with counseling, kids see their deputy probation officer every week, usually at school.

The officer will check school work, attendance, and home life.

His job is to make sure kids are getting back on the right track while at the same time reminding them that if they get in trouble, there will be consequences.

The kids also must complete community service in this voluntary program.

The teen we met attended Desert Strength Academy which is focused on team building, discipline, and other core values.

His second time at the academy, he was a leader, helping kids go through the program he had already completed.

The goal is to keep kids out of juvenile hall and away from a life of crime, to give them the best chance to improve themselves.

The teenager we talked to says without the program, “I would have probably gotten worse.”

A Riverside County report shows that 70 percent of the kids in the program complete it at a cost of nearly $6,000 per child.

Overall, the county spent nearly $6 million dollars on the program in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

If you have a question about the juvenile justice system, please e-mail us at john.white@kesq.com or karen.devine@kesq.com.

Friday night, we’ll have a panel discussion with the experts on News Channel 3 at 6 and will try to get your questions answered.