"Education and Prevention Will Have to Be Used to Stop the Gangs"

Expert: Crack down on Indian gangs

By BECKY SHAY
Billings Gazette
LODGE GRASS, Mont.

You don't have to look hard to find signs of gang activity on the Crow Indian Reservation.

The graffiti is big and blatant on abandoned buildings and bridges. It is on picnic shelters in Crow Agency and the dance arbor in Lodge Grass. The brick walls and crumbling interior of an old building in Pryor are covered.

Sometimes crude, often artistically swirled, the letters seem like adolescent defiance written cryptically in spray paint.

Go a step deeper to learn their meanings, however, and suddenly the initials spell trouble.
The graffiti is thick with references to the notorious Bloods and Crips street gangs. Some of it uses the symbolism of Hispanic and Mexican gangs, which are growing across the nation. Yet others show links to American Indian gangs, which are growing larger and more violent in the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest.

A national consultant visited the Crow reservation recently, in a move to help identify and remove the gang problem -- which is rooted deeper that than graffiti and is starting to sprout the anger that can grow deadly if left unchecked.

Chris Grant spent three days traveling the reservation, talking to people of all ages including a group of boys who identified themselves as a gang, to assess the level of gang activity.

"The Crow reservation is healthy and strong, but the gangster mentality is here," Grant said.
Generally, gang members are 12 to 19 years old, Grant said. Only a small percentage of the population is involved in gangs, "but it's here nonetheless," he said.

Grant gave training sessions to law enforcement, educators and community members. His style in the community session was fast-paced and intense, a combination of street-savvy cop, no-nonsense instructor and a guy with a big grin from "just down the road" in Rapid City, S.D.

Grant has been giving gang-awareness training for more than 15 years and has led a gang task force. He said several factions appear to be claiming territory, including ICP, or Insane Crow Posse, and MAC, the Mak'Pas Avenue Crips, and the CI or Crazy Indianz. Grant said the gangs do not have direct ties to larger gangs but are adopting their names, mentalities and subculture.

"You need to understand the gang mentality because the kids know what it is," he said.

The signs can be subtle, like wearing a cap with the bill tilted to one side to show allegiance to a gang. Or they may be obscure, like flashing hand signs.

"There are only two reasons (for hand signs)," Grant said. "You are communicating with the deaf or you are gang-involved."

"You're still in the relatively early stages of this activity," he said, but not stopping the gang activity or denying it is gang-related can lead to increased drug and other criminal activities.

There is a natural inclination, Grant said, to blow off the Bloods and Crips references as not serious.

"But the language is there," he said. "The animosity is there."

Some of the graffiti Grant saw was laced with profanity and violence.

"This language does not belong in a community," Grant said. "It's disrespectful, and it's not who you are."

Crow kids claim that gangs are already "beating in" new members, he said. That violence can quickly turn to more widespread assaults and, given time, become deadly as gang members start using weapons instead of fists.

Some of the youths with whom Grant spoke said they are not fazed by breaking the law. They have definite anti-law enforcement and anti-tribal leadership attitudes, he said. After all, Grant said the youths told him, former tribal leaders have been felons. The basic message -- without the expletives the kids used with Grant -- is that the kids believe adults don't care about them, so why should kids care?

Drug connection

Gangs have ties to drug dealing and use. Steve Juneau, a Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement agent, said that if gang activity were gasoline, meth would be the match that would set it on fire. Juneau is assistant special agent in charge with the BIA law enforcement's District 5 office in Billings.

The subcultures are ripe to overlap, Juneau said. Other than a few basketball hoops, kids don't have many community activities to help focus their energy; they have families with substance abuse and financial problems; and they don't always have strong parental involvement. Gang life can fill in those gaps.

"They grab onto it because of the identity," Juneau said.

Tapping that need to identify is one of the recommendations that Grant came up with for tribal leadership and the federal law enforcement agencies that work on the reservation.

"You have a strong community, you have a strong culture, and this behavior does not belong here," Grant said.

While his short list calls for more legal remedies and new tools for police and agents, he is adamant that "you can't arrest yourselves out of this," meaning that law enforcement is one of many players in the anti-gang movement.

Education is the first step, he said.

"The more your community knows, the more willing they are to accept the fact the problem is here," Grant said.

Ernie Weyend, of the FBI, Montana Resident Agency, said education and prevention will have to be used to stop the gangs.

"It will take a joint effort, as opposed to us picking it up when it results in property damage, serious assault or homicide," Weyend said. "This is an area where tribal leaders, educators and parents are significantly important."

The community has to take strong stands, Grant said. He suggested learning about tattoos and "representing" or using symbolism such as wearing certain colors to show their allegiance. There are simple ways to not buy into the gangster attitude.

"Don't call them by their gang name," he said. "Put it back in their face, make them think about the behavior."

Here are Grant's suggestions:

* Build a law enforcement database to track gang behavior. The system is a starting place for criminal investigations because allies and enemies are known.

"Law enforcement has a responsibility to know who the players are," Grant said. "And, when they know they are being tracked, it tends to reduce the behavior. They (gang members) don't want to be on the list."

* Establish a community-based task force. This group should have wide representation from agencies, organizations, schools and the community. The members can work out strategies to fill in gaps in the communities that gangs are starting to invade. The task force has to be long-term and sustainable, Grant said, "and roll with the developments in the community."

* Increase law enforcement staff. That may already be in the works as federal agencies and tribal leaders work to increase partnerships, funding and staff for the Crow/North Cheyenne Safe Trails Drug Task Force.

* Create a graffiti-eradication team. This should be made up of adults, who can take ownership in stopping gang activities. Grant suggested finding donors, for example big box stores in Billings, to give paint and other supplies. In other tribal communities, murals painted over graffiti have been left alone, Grant said.

He was appalled that there was even graffiti on a dance arbor. He has seldom seen gangs deface a place with strong traditional ties.

"That's one of the last places that should be defaced," Grant said.

He also strongly suggested tearing down abandoned buildings where graffiti is rife. They are "breeding grounds" for sexual assaults and drug sales and use, Grant said. The inactivity of leaving the graffiti and not making it more difficult for gangsters to act is perceived by the gangs as tolerance, Grant said.

* Develop an early intervention team to "interdict involvement at the earliest point." This would take staff members from the criminal justice system into the homes of the youngest gang members to talk with the kids and their families to see how they can help redirect the youths.

* Foster a mentoring program. This is especially useful when adult men act as positive roles models, Grant said. The mentors show kids a life that is about "culture, (acting) appropriate and growing up strong."

* Set up peer-to-peer groups. These can be based in schools and organizations, Grant said. Because the majority of kids are not gang-involved, he said, they can exert influence on those who are involved and come up with strategies to thwart gang behavior.

"Kids can do remarkable things if you give them a chance," Grant said.

* Make new laws. Tribal ordinances need to be developed that make gang activities and recruiting illegal. Tribal court officials have to be tied into the movement and back up the law with penalties, Grant said.

"If nothing happens to them, it becomes another joke," he said.

Change won't come overnight, Grant said. But, with some effort, it will come.

"If you do these core things, I think you'll see a change in six months or a year," he said.