Thread: Police seek public's help to help fight gangs in area

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Police seek public's help to help fight gangs in area


By Liz Vargo The Record Herald


WAYNESBORO - Gangs have infiltrated Franklin County.

“They are here, folks,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Ed Asbury told the large group gathered Friday for a luncheon sponsored by Franklin County Communities that Care.

A few weeks ago, a subset of La Mara Salvatrucha - also known as El Salvador's deadly MS-13 gang - claimed responsibility for a stabbing in nearby Washington County, Md.

A Waynesboro police officer allegedly was targeted by gang members after making a traffic stop and determining the driver belonged to a gang.

Other members of MS-13 allegedly spray painted their symbol on a local home.

Those are the facts.

But Detective Todd Dunkle with the Hagerstown City Police Department said the incidents should educate - not scare.

“You need to understand (that) the more you educate, the more you are dispelled of fear,” he said.

Asbury, Dunkle and Pennsylvania State Trooper Angel Garcia said their goal is not to scare, but to raise awareness in the community.

“Anybody has a chance to be a victim any day. What we want to do is limit that happening,” Dunkle said.

“Just live a good life.”

Awareness

There are 33,000 gangs in the United States with more than 850,000 members. Members join earlier than age 12 and continue to belong through adulthood, Asbury said.

“The focus is to learn something and be aware,” Asbury told the group, which included a number of law enforcement, elected and judicial officials. “Use your respective positions to find a way to do something about it.”

Asbury, who is from Pittsburgh, said the same incidents that were occurring in his hometown five or 10 years ago are occurring now in Franklin County.

Just recently, Pennsylvania State Police have organized gang prevention units to curtail gang activity.

“We're here to warn you (that) trouble is near,” he said.

Makeup of a gang

“Waynesboro is infested with gangs,” Asbury said. “We've got the Elks Club, the Order of the Moose ...”

That got a chuckle from audience members Friday afternoon, but Asbury noted “gangs” exist to create a sense of belonging. Chuckles quickly reverted to groans as Asbury displayed slides detailing the difference.

Gang activity runs the gamut - from credit card theft to gruesome stabbings, beatings and sexual coercion.

According to Asbury, a street gang is any group of three or more people who share a unique name or symbol and associate regularly. They have a hierarchy of organization and engage in unlawful criminal activity.

Splinter gangs and “wannabee members” are creating the biggest problems in south-central Pennsylvania, Asbury said. A small percentage of members are leaders who determine the criminal activity and organize splinter gangs.

But it doesn't take much for the problem to escalate.

“That's why this is so scary,” Asbury said. “They create a very strong nation ... and we have a lot of splinter groups.”

According to Asbury, Franklin County has mostly “fringe” members and wannabees who function outside the gang structure but remain very impressionable.

“Wannabees love the culture,” Asbury said. “They are our most dangerous group.”

Asbury said wannabees range in age from 8 to 13 - school-age children - who worship the language, style and power associated with hip-hop culture.

“They will do what it takes. They're a live wire, a loose cannon,” he said.

All it takes is a little seduction and a little love during a child's most impressionable years and their heads can be turned, Garcia said.

“If I were a good recruiter of a gang, I would replace your family values,” Garcia said.

Who joins

One of the most prominent East Coast gangs out of Chicago started as a community organization. Its symbol is a five-point star representing love, respect, sacrifice, honor and obedience.

The gang Latin Kings sprung up in the 1960s and continues to grow with evidence of activity in Franklin County, Garcia said. Its symbol is painted on a wall just one block from the Shippensburg Police Department, with rival gangs marking the opposite side.

“What would it take to get your child, 14 or 15 years old, to belong to a gang?” Garcia asked. “What if I could promise to love them as a family?”

There are several recruitment methods, including seduction, love and acceptance, obligation, coercion, bullying and self-recruitment. Street gangs, militia, hate groups and domestic terrorists have all reared their ugly heads in south-central Pennsylvania.

“There was a 30 percent increase in KKK recruitment since 2001,” Garcia said. “All you have to do is drive around Franklin County and tell me how many Confederate flags you see hanging in the front yards.”

Such groups leave symbols to brag and mark their territory - and that's how people can track them.

Take action

Franklin County residents have a new responsibility, said Dunkle - to snitch.

“You all are now, for lack of a better word, a snitch,” Dunkle said. “I can't be everywhere. We can't be on our own.”

Asbury, Garcia and Dunkle have seen the Latin Kings' crown, the Crypts' pitchfork and the MS-13 symbol spray-painted on buildings.

The symbols are the “newspapers of the street,” Garcia said. They advertise, mark territory, drop names, show membership and intimidate.

“We use this as an investigative tool,” he said. “We have a lot of little cells in Franklin County related to gangs.”

Only 15 minutes to the south, Dunkle knows of at least seven subsets of the Bloods with more than 50 members in Hagerstown. Their rivals, the Crypts, have four main groups, one of which has more than 100 members.

“We know for a fact there are a few (in Franklin County) because of searches on homes and receipts found from this area,” he said.

Dunkle's theory: If they walk like a duck and talk like a duck, they must be so. Parents need to dig into their children's personal effects, and residents need to report curious symbols.

“The best thing we can do with any gang is take away their anonymity,” he said. “Go with your instinct. Look at colors and symbols consistent with television. They're out there.”

Asbury and Garcia encourage anyone with information about gang activity to call Pennsylvania State Police in Chambersburg at 264-5161.

Well you know why they need help from the Public. Because the Federal Government has not done it's Job.