WayneMyles has made a right turn for life from
Gangster to Scholar
Up Front
WayneMyles has made a right turn for life from
Gangster to Scholar
Wayne Myles
It gave him a sense of belonging to a group,he said, and a feeling that "you are never alone."
But membership in the Wolf Pack gang gavehim something else.
Little by little, Wayne recorded a steadyprogression in a life of crime, graduating from housebreakingand petty larceny, to "more serious stuff."
Today, 21-year-old Wayne is enrolled inanother programme. He has swapped his gang membership for scholarlypursuits and is enrolled in the Royal Cayman Islands Police (RCIP)Community Relations' Education and Job Placement programmes, sothat he can better his life. He is attending the Cayman IslandsCommunity College.
The programmes, which are the brainchildof PC Michael Montaque and PC Ian Lavine were started in the middleof last year and cater to the 17-29 age groups. They have assisted38 or so young persons back into the educational system or intoa productive working environment.
"The programmes have taken me off thestreet," Wayne confirmed. "I have something to lookforward to in life. I know I will have a future after I finishcollege. The community relations programme gives you hope thatyou don't have to be on the street," the ex-gang member said.
At the moment Wayne is taking a certificatecomputer course at the Community College of the Cayman Islands.However, PC Montague says that young Myles has indicated thathe will pursue a degree and he is currently applying to variouslaw firms in hopes of securing employment.
"He has made a positive step in takingthe initiative to come forward," commented PC Michael Montaguefrom the RCIP Community Relations Department. "He is attendingthe class and appears to be on the right step."
And now, when Wayne struts around wearingblue, or red, or even a bandana, it has no significant meaning,other than as a statement of style. In fact, in his interviewat the offices of Cayman Net News, he sported a blue bandana,saying he covered his head because he needed a haircut.
He explained that perhaps why some youngpeople become involved in gangs has to do with a sense of securityand a group feeling. "You always have someone to turn to,you are never alone. In a sense it is a great feeling, but knowingthe things you have done, when I look back over it was not good,"he added.
Referring to the activities of gangs, heremarked: "I realise that these gangs today want to takethe level of crime to a higher. They seem to feel that they cando whatever. I would advise that people get out of the gang. Oneof these times you are going to need them and they are not goingto be there. Life does not revolve around gangs."
Mr. Myles' big wake up call from life inthe gang came when Leon Liberty was stabbed last year. He saidhe feels that he is lucky that he is not dead or in jail.
On the 8 October, 21- year-old Leon Libertywas stabbed and killed off Crewe Road in what is now known asgang killing. Three young people, Hans Kelly, Andrian and AndrewEbanks are remanded in custody at H..M. Northward Prison.
"The closest time I came to going toprison was with the Leon Liberty situation," Mr. Myles recalled."One of his friends in the gang did not like me and theywere making some very strong threats and it was a situation thatI was supposed to take care of. I realise this was not the wayto go. I could have been in jail that night," he said.
Much wiser from the experience as a gangmember, Wayne said: "Getting in a fight is a lose-lose situation.If he chops me, I go to the hospital. If I chop him, then I goto jail. I stay far from it. The situation still has not dieddown. The more I avoid it, the less conflict. It does not makesense, so I stay away," he explained.
"All the kids in Cayman are turningto the United States. I believe that if you give the kids somethingto do, then at nights it would be better for them.
"The night club where Timothy was killedwas not supervised," he said, referring to the teenage danceclub where the incident took place, where on 1 March, and youngTimothy McField was stabbed to death.
"From my knowledge those kids tookthe weapon inside the club," Wayne said. "This shouldnot happen with proper security. People my age don't carry weapons. We don't need that. The younger ones carrying them and that iswhy so many young people are being hurt today,"
Meanwhile, Wayne is hunting for a job trying his best to keep out of trouble. He says that his preferencewould be to find a position in the business world, which couldlead to him studying to become a paralegal.