Gangs 'tear at the fabric of our communities,' DA says

April 30--Although police departments within Alamance County are busy trying to fight gang activity, the school system and District Attorney's Office have their own techniques to battle gang presences.

Gang activity in schools appears to be low because of rules against it.

"The ABSS does not support or condone gang membership or gang activity," says Rule 25 in the Alamance-Burlington School System's Student Code of Conduct. "... No student shall commit any act that furthers gangs or gang-related activities."

Rule 25 addresses clothing, tattoos, hand signs, graffiti, threats, violence, solicitation to join a gang, and committing illegal acts or other violations that relate to gang activity.

In terms of consequences, students can face from in-school disciplinary action to out-of-school suspension and law enforcement's being notified. Mostly, though, the students receive warnings if they show gang colors, and they're asked to comply with the rule, which typically they do, Assistant Superintendent Charles Monroe said.

"We know that gangs may exist. It all depends on how obvious they want to portray that on site," Monroe said.

While students who may be in gangs can participate in gang activity off site, the school can discipline students for those actions if it transfers over to the school, Monroe said.

"That is something the students don't realize because they feel as though if it is offsite, they are free," Monroe said. "Yes, they are free to do that, but if by chance, if it transfers over onto a school campus, we can deal with that based on the Student Code of Conduct."

But Rule 25 also can create a double-edged sword: It makes it harder for teachers and principals, and by extension law enforcement, to determine who is in a gang since students hide their allegiances.

"Knowing that [Rule 25] exists, they are very careful what they may try to do," Monroe said. "They have to be very careful about what they try to do, and you don't know who is a part of that until something happens."

Monroe struggled to say positively whether gang activity in schools has increased or decreased since Rule 25 went into place.

"It may be an increase, but because they are so secretive about what they do, it is hard to say it has been an increase or a decrease," Monroe said.

The assistant superintendent did say that before Rule 25 went into effect several years ago, ABSS knew of students trying to initiate others into gangs as well as showing gang signs and paraphernalia. However, it was hard to determine which students were doing what as they did not broadcast their intentions.

"You can have four or five students who may be talking during the school day, but we don't know they are gang members because they are not doing anything to portray that they are gang members," Monroe said. "They don't want anyone to know what gang they are associated with, even though they may be congregating during the school day."

While there have been nationwide reports of elementary school students showing gang affiliation, Monroe said ABSS has not heard much of those cases.

"If the principals or teachers detect that, they deal with it," Monroe said. "There may not be anything to it other than correcting it, or they make the parents aware. At the elementary level, you don't hear much of that."

District attorney

For the last two years, District Attorney Patrick Nadolski and his Focused Deterrence initiative have helped prosecute habitual felons and bring federal charges against local offenders, especially violent ones. The initiative allows the DA's office to meet with local law enforcement and discuss habitual felons and troublemakers.

"We talk about who are the problems in our communities. That includes gang members," Nadolski said. "Gangs can have a significant negative impact in our communities. As a result of that, we have those meetings. We actually brought different law enforcement agencies together to maximize our resources when we are investigating one of these targeted offenders. I think that is fantastic because you are able to maximize the results as well."

Nadolski also said law enforcement agencies have come together to fund a position for a federal prosecutor so these felons can receive more severe sentences.

"They have all come together, which is unprecedented, because that has never happened, ever, that you got municipalities to work together for a common purpose, which is to have a tool that is going to have significant impact," Nadolski said. "That has gotten going, and it is already starting to see substantial results."

In addition to the federal prosecutor and the Focused Deterrence initiative, the DA can use laws that raise the sentencing if a crime was committed in connection to gang activity.

"What gangs represent and what they do to our communities, obviously we are going to put a greater focus on it if someone is a gang member," Nadolski said. "That is going to factor into our prosecution.

"Gang members tear at the fabric of our communities," Nadolski added. "It is oftentimes organized. When they commit crimes as a group, that is a problem. When we see that happen, obviously we are going to focus on them to a greater degree than a normal case."

Nadolski explained that a lot of the violence that occurs with gangs is retaliatory and cyclical.

"That is another negative impact of gangs because, ultimately, an innocent party can be hurt or killed," Nadolski said.

To help lessen the gang violence, the DA offers plea deals for gang members when they are arrested, but this rarely succeeds, Nadolski said.

"You are less likely to have that as you do in other cases because gang members ... have a twisted view of what they are actually in, thinking of it as some type of brotherhood, when all it is is something that is going to bring negative consequences to them," Nadolski said. "We have [plea deals] happen, but we are not as successful as we are in other cases."

Nadolski's overall message to gangs and gang members, whether they are from Alamance County or other parts of the state, is that they will be prosecuted if they're caught here.

"We are going to have zero tolerance for criminal gangs," Nadolski said. "We are going to vigorously prosecute the cases that we are able to prosecute. We are going to vigorously prosecute those cases that involve gangs, and we are going to do everything that we can to take those members off the street and put them in prison."

Suggestions

Although the DA's office does try to end gang activity through its own means, it asks the community to step in and help.

"What we have been doing is asking the public to speak out," Nadolski said. "When you see something, say something. We all have to come together and stop it. We can't let it keep happening in our communities. I think from a societal standpoint, we need to work to strengthen our families across our communities."

In addition to the community's help, Nadolski said, mentorships and other programs need to be put in place to stop youth from wanting to join gangs in the first place.

"I feel like we need to get to kids early, anywhere we can get to them to do whatever we can to stop this movement of our young people in the gangs," Nadolski said. "We have to hit it from all angles, whether it is churches, whether it is community resources, whether it is people that are willing to be mentors. It takes everybody to take responsibility for it and do something about it."

Reporter Kate Croxton can be reached at kate.croxton@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3078. Follow her on Twitter at @katecroxtonBTN.

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