Authorities Looks to Schools, Parents and Community Groups to Aid in Prevention
Parents, schools vital in war against gangs
By Rob Seal
Daily Progress staff writer
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Editor’s note: Gang activity isn't new to Central Virginia. But now a new twist has emerged. Police have tied recent violence to national gangs, and say groups such as the Bloods appear to be recruiting in this area now. What does it mean for police? How should the community react?
One local elementary school’s yearbook displays a warning sign of gang activity right alongside the smiling faces of schoolchildren, according to Officer James Hope of the Albemarle County Police Department.
“In one of the pictures, you can see pictures of kids throwing up gang signs,” Hope said. “Now, we don’t think these kids are in gangs, but they’re picking those signs up from somewhere.”
As authorities respond to the threat of gang activity in the area, they are increasingly looking to schools, parents and community groups to aid in prevention.
“It’s been proven across the United States, there has to be a multi-pronged approach to this problem. It’s a virus,” said Keith Applewhite, a Chesterfield detective and vice president of the Virginia Gang Investigators Association.
Applewhite, who has spoken at gang prevention seminars across the state, said kids are especially at risk when they approach middle school age.
“By the time they get to high school, it’s too late if they’ve decided to become a gang member,” Applewhite said.
On April 21, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were attacked and beaten in separate incidents in downtown Charlottesville because they refused to join the Bloods, a gang with a national presence that originated in southern California in the 1960s, police said.
Afterwards, seven teenagers were arrested in connection with the beatings. After attending a monthly gang taskforce meeting, area police said some of the teens charged in the assaults were connected to the Bloods, and that the incidents indicate the presence of a national gang in Charlottesville.
“We’ve been saying to ourselves, ‘well, we’ve got gangs, but they’re local gangs,’” said Rory Carpenter, juvenile justice coordinator for the Charlottesville Albemarle Commission on Children and Families. “I think this last episode is showing us as a community that we may well in time have this problem at our doorstep.”
In August, Carpenter helped put together a community forum on gang prevention. The next step, he said, is to localize the training.
“We want to go into the city and provide residents with information and tools to help identify and prevent the kids from getting involved in gangs,” Carpenter said.
In Charlottesville, city police say an education program that targets sixth- and seventh-graders might be part of the solution.
City Police Chief Timothy J. Longo said he is urging the city school system to implement Gang Resistance Education and Training. The program consists of 13 one-hour lessons for middle school students and would be taught by uniformed officers.
The program wouldn’t be the first gang prevention technique to surface in area schools. The city school system has rules specifically aimed at curtailing gang activity, acting superintendent Bobby Thompson said.
“There is a page in our code of conduct pertaining to dress, signs, badges and emblems that won’t be tolerated,” Thompson said.
The list of banned activities includes certain gestures, soliciting others for membership in gangs or asking others to pay for “protection,” Thompson said.
“This is in reaction to the past couple years of trying to crack down on gangs and gang paraphernalia in schools,” Thompson said.
Albemarle County school officials have also been looking at ways to address gang troubles and have set up training opportunities through the police department, said Steele Howen, director of administrative services for the county school system.
“This is something that we’ve taken seriously,” Howen said. “We’ve instituted training not only for our administrators and other people who might be dealing with this issue, but also for parents.”
Parental involvement is the best way to keep kids out of gangs, Applewhite said.
According to Hope, parents should be alert for changes in their children, such as new clothing styles that emphasize a particular color, or unexplained cash or jewelry.
“It comes down to good parenting skills: learn about gangs and sharpen your skills and handle your children,” Applewhite said.
A Closer LookSome things that parents/adults should look for when trying to identify if a child may be involved in a gang:
1. Changes in behavior
2. Not associating with long-time friends and being secretive about new friends and activities
3. Changes in hair or dress style and/or having a group of friends who have the same hair of dress style
4. Changes in normal routines with new friends, such as not coming home after school or staying out late with no explanation
5. Suspected drug use, such as alcohol, inhalants and narcotics
6. Unexplained material possessions such as expensive clothing, jewelry, money etc.
7. The presence of firearms, ammunition, or other deadly weapons
8. Changes in attitude about school, church, or other normal activities
9. Discipline problems at school, church, or other normal activities
10. Low grades at school and poor attendance
11. New fear of police
12. Phone threats to the family from rival gangs ( or unknown callers) directed against your child
13. Photographs of your child and other displaying gang hand signs, weapons, cash or drugs
14. Graffiti on or around your residence, especially in child’s room such as walls, furniture, clothing, notebooks. May also include drawings and “doodling” of gang-related figures, themes of violence or gang symbolisms
15. Physical signs of being in a fight, such as bruises and cuts and secrecy on child’s part as to how they were received
16. A new found sense of bravery
17. Use of new nickname
18. New found sympathy or defending of gang activity by your child
19. Tattoos or “branding” with gang related symbols
Source: Albemarle County Police Department
By Rob Seal
Daily Progress staff writer
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Editor’s note: Gang activity isn't new to Central Virginia. But now a new twist has emerged. Police have tied recent violence to national gangs, and say groups such as the Bloods appear to be recruiting in this area now. What does it mean for police? How should the community react?
One local elementary school’s yearbook displays a warning sign of gang activity right alongside the smiling faces of schoolchildren, according to Officer James Hope of the Albemarle County Police Department.
“In one of the pictures, you can see pictures of kids throwing up gang signs,” Hope said. “Now, we don’t think these kids are in gangs, but they’re picking those signs up from somewhere.”
As authorities respond to the threat of gang activity in the area, they are increasingly looking to schools, parents and community groups to aid in prevention.
“It’s been proven across the United States, there has to be a multi-pronged approach to this problem. It’s a virus,” said Keith Applewhite, a Chesterfield detective and vice president of the Virginia Gang Investigators Association.
Applewhite, who has spoken at gang prevention seminars across the state, said kids are especially at risk when they approach middle school age.
“By the time they get to high school, it’s too late if they’ve decided to become a gang member,” Applewhite said.
On April 21, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old were attacked and beaten in separate incidents in downtown Charlottesville because they refused to join the Bloods, a gang with a national presence that originated in southern California in the 1960s, police said.
Afterwards, seven teenagers were arrested in connection with the beatings. After attending a monthly gang taskforce meeting, area police said some of the teens charged in the assaults were connected to the Bloods, and that the incidents indicate the presence of a national gang in Charlottesville.
“We’ve been saying to ourselves, ‘well, we’ve got gangs, but they’re local gangs,’” said Rory Carpenter, juvenile justice coordinator for the Charlottesville Albemarle Commission on Children and Families. “I think this last episode is showing us as a community that we may well in time have this problem at our doorstep.”
In August, Carpenter helped put together a community forum on gang prevention. The next step, he said, is to localize the training.
“We want to go into the city and provide residents with information and tools to help identify and prevent the kids from getting involved in gangs,” Carpenter said.
In Charlottesville, city police say an education program that targets sixth- and seventh-graders might be part of the solution.
City Police Chief Timothy J. Longo said he is urging the city school system to implement Gang Resistance Education and Training. The program consists of 13 one-hour lessons for middle school students and would be taught by uniformed officers.
The program wouldn’t be the first gang prevention technique to surface in area schools. The city school system has rules specifically aimed at curtailing gang activity, acting superintendent Bobby Thompson said.
“There is a page in our code of conduct pertaining to dress, signs, badges and emblems that won’t be tolerated,” Thompson said.
The list of banned activities includes certain gestures, soliciting others for membership in gangs or asking others to pay for “protection,” Thompson said.
“This is in reaction to the past couple years of trying to crack down on gangs and gang paraphernalia in schools,” Thompson said.
Albemarle County school officials have also been looking at ways to address gang troubles and have set up training opportunities through the police department, said Steele Howen, director of administrative services for the county school system.
“This is something that we’ve taken seriously,” Howen said. “We’ve instituted training not only for our administrators and other people who might be dealing with this issue, but also for parents.”
Parental involvement is the best way to keep kids out of gangs, Applewhite said.
According to Hope, parents should be alert for changes in their children, such as new clothing styles that emphasize a particular color, or unexplained cash or jewelry.
“It comes down to good parenting skills: learn about gangs and sharpen your skills and handle your children,” Applewhite said.
A Closer LookSome things that parents/adults should look for when trying to identify if a child may be involved in a gang:
1. Changes in behavior
2. Not associating with long-time friends and being secretive about new friends and activities
3. Changes in hair or dress style and/or having a group of friends who have the same hair of dress style
4. Changes in normal routines with new friends, such as not coming home after school or staying out late with no explanation
5. Suspected drug use, such as alcohol, inhalants and narcotics
6. Unexplained material possessions such as expensive clothing, jewelry, money etc.
7. The presence of firearms, ammunition, or other deadly weapons
8. Changes in attitude about school, church, or other normal activities
9. Discipline problems at school, church, or other normal activities
10. Low grades at school and poor attendance
11. New fear of police
12. Phone threats to the family from rival gangs ( or unknown callers) directed against your child
13. Photographs of your child and other displaying gang hand signs, weapons, cash or drugs
14. Graffiti on or around your residence, especially in child’s room such as walls, furniture, clothing, notebooks. May also include drawings and “doodling” of gang-related figures, themes of violence or gang symbolisms
15. Physical signs of being in a fight, such as bruises and cuts and secrecy on child’s part as to how they were received
16. A new found sense of bravery
17. Use of new nickname
18. New found sympathy or defending of gang activity by your child
19. Tattoos or “branding” with gang related symbols
Source: Albemarle County Police Department
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