Music City High Schools and Gangs--Nashville City Paper

Gangs infiltrate virtually every high school

By Judith R. Tackett

January 19, 2006

Nashville’s gang problem is growing and officials now say there is gang activity in virtually every public high school.

Ralph Thompson, assistant superintendent of student services, said there is no typical socio-economic or race profile of gang members in schools.“There are probably … gang members in virtually every high school we have here, including magnet schools. And I think that’s sometimes overlooked,” Thompson said. Thompson oversees the school district’s discipline issues.

Gang members identify themselves by wearing certain color clothing and certain styles, such as leaving a shoe lace untied. Gang members flash specific signs at each other, which are all outlawed in Metro schools. Flashing signs can result in punishment ranging from in-school suspension to expulsion, Thompson said.

Under state law, a gang consists of at least three members that either act together or separately in committing crimes, have a known area, and claim a name.“If you have three kids together calling themselves the Five Dice, and they do nothing but hang out on the street corner, never commit a crime, they’re not a criminal street gang,” Sgt. Gary Kemper with Metro Police’s Gang Unit said.

The five detectives and one sergeant of Metro’s Gang Unit, which was formed in 2003, try to keep up with changes in gang members and their activities in an attempt to address the growing problem before it gets out of control.

Only two of the city’s 99 murders last year were gang-related, Kemper said. The Gang Unit examines every murder to determine whether anybody involved claimed to be a gang member.

Nashville gangs are not as organized as in other parts of the country, especially the East and West coasts, Capt. W. Todd Henry, who oversees the Specialized Investigations Division that includes the Gang Unit, said.“Part of the blessing that we’ve had in Davidson County is, our gangs are very loosely organized, if organized at all,” Henry said. “You may have a Hispanic child that lives in Antioch claiming to be Brown Pride [and] a Hispanic in Madison who claims to be Brown Pride. They don’t know each other, they can’t tell you who the gang leader is, there is no connectivity — whereas in major cities, there is that connectivity.”

In a sense, the lack of organization can cause more problems for schools, Thompson said, mainly because some students have a desire to join a gang but aren’t actually members.“So they actually act out frequently and, unfortunately, in more violent ways than some of your better established gangs,” he said.

Metro Schools is actively addressing the issue with ongoing prevention programs such as S.T.A.R.’s (Students Taking A Right Stand), the Path Program, the Second Step Program, and some bullying programs that target students from elementary to high school.

Thompson said Metro Schools also does regular and alternative searches in the schools as preventive measures. In regular searches, a principal showing cause can request a search for weapons. Alternative searches have only been started recently. Schools officials team up with police to randomly search students as they leave buses and/or enter the school building in the morning.“We had a total of 27 searches this year,” Thompson said. “We need to do more, and we are constantly looking for sources of funding.”

A search costs about $300, lasts 45-90 minutes, and includes between 25 and 80 individuals.

The six guns discovered in schools this academic year did not result from any searches. But Thompson said the searches have turned up drugs, knives and similar contraband.

The department is now looking into using search dogs.“We do take [gang activities] seriously, we never turn our heads on it, and I would like to say that we believe that we’ll get better in dealing with it,” Thompson said. “Certainly it’s an education for us all.”

The issue is also a growing concern for neighborhoods around Nashville.Councilman Erik Cole said in a recent community meeting in South Inglewood residents voiced their concern about gang activities at high schools spilling over into the neighborhoods.

“It’s a very concerning problem,” Cole said. “It seems to me that the school system and the police department are coordinating fairly well in monitoring and knowing what gangs wear and infiltrating them. That doesn’t mean the problem’s gone away by any means.”