statesmanjournal.com

December 21, 2008

Pervasive spread of gang culture makes youths vulnerable

Police say groups are more sophisticated and target younger children

By Tracy Loew and Ruth Liao
Statesman Journal

Jose was 13 when he got "jumped" into his neighborhood gang.

It just seemed natural, he said, in the Gervais area where he'd grown up.

His mother had left the family, and his father worked long hours at a nursery.

"It was a neighborhood where gangs were around," said Jose (not his real name). "I grew up with my homeboys."

Four members of his "crew" beat him for 13 seconds — representing the "13" used by Surenos gang subsets.

By then, Jose already had been doing drugs for several years. His crew routinely beat people for money, he said, and broke into schools and businesses.

Jose became a leader in his gang, while compiling a lengthy criminal profile.

Eight months ago, those crimes caught up with Jose. Now 17, he's among the 128 Marion and Polk county children in the custody of the Oregon Youth Authority.

For a growing number of local children like Jose, gangs provide the stability, acceptance and direction they don't find at home or school.

After a lull in activity from 2002-05, street gangs again are on the rise in Marion and Polk counties.

Gang relations are so volatile that police asks the media not to identify any gang members, specific gang subsets or picture gang graffiti. Doing so can provoke more violence, they found, because gangs compete for attention.

Last year, Salem Police alone dealt with about 600 documented gang members affiliated with 25 different gang sets.

"There's documented gang members in probably every school," said Salem Police Sgt. Pat Garrett, who oversees school-based officers in the Salem-Keizer School District.

Reported incidents of graffiti rose by more than 20 percent in Salem and tripled in Keizer last year.

In Salem, the graffiti covered 100,953 square feet last year, up from 35,000 square feet in 1998. That's grown to 124,493 square feet in just the first nine months of this year.

Youths involved with gangs are more sophisticated than before. And they're targeting vulnerable children at younger ages in the past, often in elementary and middle schools, police say.

"We've got kids as young as fourth and fifth grades who are actively recruited into gangs and they're starting to espouse that culture," Salem Police Sgt. Doug Carpenter said.

Growing gang influence

In the early 1990s, a group of North Salem High School youths calling themselves M.M.P. became the first documented youth gang in Salem, Carpenter said.

"Other youth formed gangs to protect themselves — West Side Mafia Crips; Asian Pride Only, 18th Street," he said. "Gang members started having conflicts."

Gang violence in Salem peaked in 1998, when police investigated a record 78 drive-by shootings and 11 gang-related homicides.

"That was a watershed year for the Marion County area," Carpenter said.

In 1999, the interagency gang team was formed. It included police, probation and parole, and prosecutors.

But by 2002, the team had been disbanded. Gang violence had leveled off, and resources were needed for a new threat: meth.

In 2005, police noted an uptick in gang activity that still is continuing.

"We're seeing a real increase in gang activity statewide," said Josh Graves, of Catholic Community Services.

Police say one reason may be that the number of convicted gang members being released from prison is increasing.

In Marion County, parole and probation deputies supervise 152 gang-related offenders, up from 139 this time last year, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. In addition, there are 74 arrest warrants out for former gang members who have violated the terms of their release.

A growing number of immigrants also might contribute to the increase in youth gangs, Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers noted in a recent report on gang activity.

"As families with gang members relocate, associates, children and enduring gang ties often lead to the formation of gangs in neighborhoods previously gang-free, or to potentially deadly conflicts with established local gangs," the report states. "New immigrant populations appear to be especially vulnerable to gang influence."

Children from first-generation immigrant families are particularly susceptible, Carpenter said. Because they speak English while their parents don't, they can become "all-powerful" in the family and find it easy to deceive their parents about rules and acceptable behaviors.

Students who have trouble learning English also are at risk, said Eduardo Angulo, chairman of the Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality.

"The problem we're having are kids in fifth, sixth, seventh grade that are reading and writing two or three grades behind," Angulo said. "They're targets of the gang culture because these kids feel there is not much incentive for them to be in school. The gang culture is recruiting those kids that are looking for a place to fit."

The area's increasing poverty rate also leaves kids vulnerable to gang influences.

"I know that many of the students have experience either directly or indirectly with gangs," said Steve Lush, principal of Salem's Hallman Elementary School, one of the area's poorest and most diverse.

Often, low-income families have a single parent or both parents working.

"When kids come home from school and Mom and Dad aren't home, kids are left to run the neighborhood by themselves," Catholic Community Services' Graves said. "Mom may really love them and care about them, but who's going to reach out to them in that neighborhood? The gangs are."

Targeting kids

All kinds of gangs operate locally: White supremacists, Neo-Nazi Skinheads, Bloods, Crips, outlaw motorcycle gangs.

But the most visible, ascendant gangs here are patterned after the Hispanic gangs of Southern California, Carpenter said.

In Oregon, members don't need to be Hispanic to join.

"Gangs recruit from all different racial and economic backgrounds," Carpenter said.

Locally, he said, the biggest problem caused by youth gangs is graffiti.

Graffiti reports in Salem rose from 2,846 cases in 2006 to 3,449 in 2007.

The number is likely to increase again this year, graffiti abatement team leader Kim Nelson said. For the first nine months of 2008, Salem Police have written 3,215 graffiti reports covering 124,493 square feet.

Graffiti reports in Keizer more than tripled, from 85 in 2006 to 273 last year.

The problem is so bad, the Salem-Keizer School District keeps 1.5 custodians assigned full time to cleaning up graffiti.

Many youth gangs never progress beyond graffiti and other petty crimes, Carpenter said.

But graffiti also can open the door to more violent behavior.

Locally, he said, youth gangs are responsible for homicides, assaults, riots and thefts.

For example, during the 2003-04 school year, a group of about 30 middle school kids from the Northgate area formed a tagging crew, Carpenter said.

Their work created conflicts with neighboring gangs, and tensions escalated. In October 2005, members of the crew fatally stabbed 15-year-old McKay High School sophomore Juan Carlos Gabriel.

Another tagging crew, formed that same year in Keizer, grew more and more violent, Carpenter said. In 2005, 15 members were involved in a Keizer riot.

More recently, authorities have dealt with a spate of gang-related violent crimes involving youths this year:

Aug. 10: Five people were hospitalized with knife wounds after an early morning fight in Mount Angel that broke out in an apartment complex. A Marion County grand jury determined Dec. 10 that there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime.

Aug. 14: Two teenagers received minor wounds during a drive-by shotgun attack on Pennsylvania Avenue SE in Salem.

Aug. 27: Eight juveniles were arrested and another 21 people were ejected from the Oregon State Fair after a gang-related fistfight. Another 12 people were ejected for gang activity.

Sept. 14: Graffiti vandals armed with red spray paint tagged garage doors, stop signs, wooden fences, sidewalks and at least one vehicle along Rock Creek Drive S. Two boys, ages 13 and 14, have been arrested.

Oct. 8: A group of about 10 people, including teenagers, wearing red with red rags over their faces pumped at least 18 rounds into the side of a house on Verda Lane in Keizer. Later that night, three or four red-clad suspects fired shots into a house on Pennsylvania Ave. SE. No one was hit by gunfire in the drive-by shootings, which are thought to be linked.

Oct. 22: A stabbing near Macleay Road SE and Rickey Street injured a 17-year-old boy, who said he and his friend had been attacked by about 10 Hispanic men wearing red. Two 16-year-olds have been arrested in connection with the incident. The same night, a drive-by shooting was reported in northeast Salem. No one was hurt in that incident, on Baker Street NE.

Nov. 6: A man fled after shooting at several people outside a residence in West Salem. No one was hurt.

Dec. 3: Keizer Police charged three 13-year-olds and a 12-year-old with multiple counts of graffiti. During Thanksgiving weekend, spray paint and permanent marker were found on buildings, city signs, fences, bus shelters and sidewalks at Keizer Station and nearby homes.

School impact

Salem-Keizer School District doesn't track the impact of gangs in schools, spokesman Jay Remy said.

"It is often difficult or impossible to confirm whether an incident is related to a gang," he said. "For instance, if a student is caught with a knife or drugs at school, it might be difficult to determine whether there is a connection to gang activity."

Still, it's clear that gangs are a problem.

A spring 2008 school district survey of sixth- and eighth-graders found:

-Seventeen percent had been invited to join a gang while at school, up from 15 percent the previous year. For non-white students, the figure was 22 percent.

-Seventeen percent felt threatened by gangs at school, up from 16 percent the previous year.

-Ten percent had carried a weapon at school, up from 9 percent the previous year.

A similar survey of seventh-graders in fall 2007 found:

-Eighteen percent felt threatened by the clothing some students wear to school.

-Twenty-three percent felt threatened by other students.

-Ten percent had missed one or more days of school because they feel threatened.

And a November 2007 survey of high school sophomores found:

-Sixty-eight percent noticed some or obvious evidence of gangs in their schools.

-Fourteen percent had carried a weapon at school, up from 12 percent the previous year.

There are so many gang subsets fighting each other that school officials have to be careful not to create problems, Carpenter said. For example, they might want to avoid calling rival gang members into the office together.

Schools have implemented "color contracts," which ban certain students from wearing certain colors.

But gang members get around that by temporarily switching to other colors, Carpenter said.

"The last gang assault at a school, they wore neutral colors, black and grey. But all 15 of them had the same color on," he said.

And one gang at Stephens Middle School recently switched to pink, he said.

Female gang membership also is increasing locally, police say.

Gangs also are becoming more technologically savvy, Carpenter said. That makes it harder to track and head off potential problems.

For example, a fight that used to be set up a day in advance now can happen in minutes with text messaging.

Texting also puts police at a disadvantage, because youths text each other about police activity they see.

"When my guys hit the street, (gang members) know where they are," Carpenter said.

And social networking sites such as MySpace are a huge recruiting tools, he said.

Young offenders

Last year, one out of every 50 Marion and Polk county children were arrested for all types of crimes, compared with one in 68 statewide.

During the past 10 years, the Marion County Juvenile Department has seen a 50 percent increase in the number of kids in its caseloads who are affiliated with gangs, said Chuck Sybrandt, deputy director of the county juvenile department, which oversees supervision of juvenile offenders.

And youths are coming into the facility at a younger age for gang-related crimes.

"What we're seeing is the middle and elementary-schoolers doing the criminal behavior and acting out, while high schoolers step back and watch," Sybrandt said.

In Marion County, there are about 75 young offenders identified as gang affiliates, he said.

In Polk County, there are about 39 identified gang-affiliated youths on probation, all on the county's high-risk caseload, said Trish Reding, manager of the Polk County juvenile department.

The gang unit for Salem Police Department is made up of two officers and a sergeant — and officials say there's enough gang activity in the Salem to easily double the number of officers.

In Keizer, four police officers take on gang-related duties, but are not dedicated full time to gang enforcement, spokesman Capt. Jeff Kuhns said.

This includes three school resource officers and a police officer assigned to the department's community response unit.

Kuhns said Keizer police's patrol resources are sufficient to take on a preventative approach to gang activity.

Marion County Sheriff's Office lacks a dedicated gang unit — Sheriff Russ Isham said he'd like to see the multi-agency gang team restarted in Mid-Valley, as well as add a dedicated gang school resource officer.

For now, the two school resource deputies in place at Houck and Stephens middle schools both assist in gang investigations when they can.

The sheriff's office also is set to identify a particular patrol deputy on each shift to take on gang-related calls and coordinate with Salem and Keizer police officers, Isham said.

Isham said gang activity is countywide and "all flows back and forth" between city and county boundaries.

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, there were 65 gang-related incidents in the county, a majority of them graffiti, Isham said.

Polk County law enforcement officials say they see gang-related activity on a smaller scale.

Independence Police Chief Vern Wells said his officers mainly deal with incidents of graffiti and criminal mischief.

At community events and festivals, a couple of officers are sometimes specially designated to watch for gang activity, Wells said.

But the Independence police department is first trying to resolve covering each shift and managing its patrol calls before it can begin to divert resources to gang suppression.

In Monmouth, police see graffiti or fights that could be gang-related, Police Chief Darrell Tallan said. But those incidents are far fewer and not as violent, he said.

Meanwhile, the pervasive spread of gang culture in schools concerns law enforcement — and police officials say they'd like to see more resources invested in gang prevention efforts.

Even students who aren't involved with gangs suffer from the presence of gangs, Graves said.

"Kids who live in a neighborhood where there's a strong gang structure — just the gang presence in the neighborhood may affect their safety, their social circles, their peer relationships," he said.

And gang activity in the neighborhood, rather than the school, still affects students, Carpenter said.

"Now these kids come to school scared, or they're talking about what happened in the neighborhood," he said. "They're not learning anything."

Those who shun gang involvement also are at risk.

"Belonging to a rival gang is typically sufficient reason to provoke at attack; however, expressing no gang affiliation also can have grim consequences," Attorney General Myers noted.

Second chance

Gervais gang leader Jose considers himself lucky, because he's been given a second chance.

After a series of detentions, he was offered a spot in Salem's Catarino Cavazos Center, an intensive rehabilitation program for male, Hispanic, gang-involved youths.

He's learned to control his anger, practice refusal skills and set goals for the future.

He now is attending classes at Early College High School and hopes to continue his education.

But Jose admits his challenge won't end when he is released. He likely will return to Gervais, where he has friends and family, including a 15-year-old brother who also is gang-involved.

Even now, when Jose is on weekend visits, his "homeboys" turn to him for advice, and he still worries about them.

Jose will have to walk a fine line between not being an outcast in his own community and staying away from drugs and crime.

"There's a lot of temptation there that I can't handle right now," he said. "But I guarantee that I won't be getting in trouble soon. I like that."

tloew@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6779

Square feet covered by graffiti in Salem in the first nine months of this year, up from 100,953 for all of 2007

Percent of Salem-Keizer School District sophomores who notice some or obvious evidence of gangs in their schools
Additional Facts

Editor's note

Because of the volatile nature of gangs, the Statesman Journal does not mention specific gang members or gang subsets or picture gang graffiti. Police have found such mentions could provoke more violence. If a pseudonym is used, it will be clearly marked in the story.