Are g-bangers getting more prevalent?

[kimber_ss]

This is a question for LEO's, but non-LE can chip in. I'm asking what the general consensus is from what you see in your neighborhood/patrols. Personally, I know that I walk past a few obvious gang-bangers in Sac county, where they didn't appear as prevalent or open about dealing drugs with onlookers.

I realize with the budget cuts, gang enforcement divisions have many fewer officers to respond to gang related incidents. And because I'm always concealed carrying, I get the looks from these individuals and the "silent treatment" when I walk by. Must be the black windbreaker and black slacks and military green ball cap.

Anyway I'm imagining not much change in the current fiscal environment. I also expected this when the California budget got out of control. Any good news on gang enforcement would be a breath of fresh air. What is your projection of where this will go in the future? Thanks

[Rockit]

I work south Sac. Yes. Gangs are growing quickly.
A lot of reasons I think. A lot of it has been the general social acceptance of the "thug life".

[edwardm]

Google for the 2011 FBI National Gang Threat Assessment. For whatever flak we toss at the government in general, I have to admit that the reports the FBI puts out are generally sane, well-grounded and overall accurate.

The 2011 report indicates that yes, gangs are growing. In addition to growth, they are also changing, especially in how gang memberships are starting to crossover into other gangs, the formation of alliances and so on. It does not paint a pretty picture.

Anecdotes from the LEO's I know seem to support these findings as well.

[CaptMike]

the reason you are seeing more gang members is directly related to AB 109. This is the new state law that mandates that our prisons reduce inmate population. These criminals are being released early and the judges have been ordered to not send new "low level and non violent" cases to the prisons. In los angeles county we are receiving 80 new early releases per week. You have to realize that an influx of these seasoned veteran gang members back into our society is going to have an effect. These vets are recruitig all the young kids and organizing them. I have noticed a huge increase in activity. These releases started in october and look where we are now. I promise you that it is going to get worse. This upcoming summer, violence is going to be out of control. We had a kidnap rape and murder in our neighborhood just happen. Something like that has not happened in decades. I usually called 911 maybe twice a year, but I have called 4 times this month so far. Stay safe everyone.

[Bobby Hated]

i'm a criminologist with a specialization in race/ethnicity and gang research so i think i can share what academia thinks about this.

the FBI stats are seen as the product of an unreliable sampling methodology. in human words that means the definition of who is and isn't a gang member varies by locality and agency. so if in one reporting agency includes "associates" in their reported data, and another only includes documented gang members, then you're comparing apples to oranges. another problem is that some unknown segment of the population sampled is not included in the sample. that unknown unsampled population could throw the results entirely off. these sampling problems are the bane of statistical data in the social sciences. stats can give us a "ballpark" view of what is going on, but we cant fall into the trap of assuming them to be an accurate reflection of what is occuring in the streets.

data from ethnographic work i've seen presented and anecdotal conversations with LEO's from around the country (mostly gang detail cops) i've had at conferences in the past couple years, leads me to believe there are two trends:

1. crime levels have seen a dramatic decline in the past decade, despite the corresponding decline in the economy and increase in wealth disparity. this has confounded academics and liberals in general who thought they had it figured out that crime and economic disparity were an unfallible correlation. what i have found is that this is largely driven by lower levels of crime in big cities. (of course there are a couple exceptions, chicago comes to mind of course) it has been suggested by academics and LEO's that urban gangs are getting more sophisticated and are committing less of the kind of street crime that gets reported as crime data to the FBI UCR, and more of the organized criminal activity that does not generate so much raw data as street level crime.

at the same time, there is the inter-generational rejection thesis that suggests that a larger proportion of the available pool of young people that gang members are drawn from in urban areas are rejecting the violence of previous generations and instead choosing subcultural alternatives to gang activity, such as graffiti tagging or so-called "street art", various music based subcultures and the ubiquitous "hipster" subculture.

2. the second trend, is that across the board, LEO's i've talked to, particularly gang detail officers, at conventions and what not, report that the prevalence of gang activity and membership is up in rural and suburban areas. particularly in the midwest and parts of the south. in some cases i find that these officers are poorly trained to accurately identify and define gang membership.

but moreover i feel like what is being reflected in their reports is a spreading of the popularity of gang culture in rural and suburban areas. i can only speculate as to what the source of this recent surge in popularity is. contemporary popular music is mostly the clubby bling bling music and not focused on the gangster rap that was popular in the 90's, so that's not the answer. perhaps internal migration is influencing the trend, with bonified gang members from urban areas moving to rural and suburban areas and influencing youngsters there. that might be an explanation. another could be that rural and suburban youngsters are romanticizing urban subcultures like gang banging they see on the internet, and generate their own gang subcultures out of material they get off the internet and what not.

what do you LEO's think about these analyses? unlike most of my academic colleagues, i am very much interested in the perspectives of people who are actual law enforcement practitioners. you're the ones who have the most contact with this population, while most academics sit in their armchairs blind to the outside world.

hope i was able to add a lil food for thought and i appreciate you all sharing your opinions and observations.

[kel-tec-innovations]

I have also notice a increase of home invasions and robbery in the IE. My friends neighborhood had 7 home invasions in a month. His house was not targeted yet. I'm guessing he has 3 scary huge dogs and he's a huge 6ft. guy from military background.

[Bobby Hated]

I have also notice a increase of home invasions and robbery in the IE. My friends neighborhood had 7 home invasions in a month. His house was not targeted yet. I'm guessing he has 3 scary huge dogs and he's a huge 6ft. guy from military background.

yes and places like the IE have had a significant migration of people from the ghettos of los angeles, particularly south LA. i think alot of the crime in the IE over the past decade or so is due to a gang population within these transplants and the gang culture they brought with them. the ironic thing is, that was exactly the reason many of these families moved out of south LA in the first place. too bad the gang bangers tagged along.

[Raider510]

Thanks for posting, Bobby Hated.

One thing that must not be overlooked as well is the fact that as these wars wind down, and we are cutting manpower in the military, there will be more and more gang members who served and snuck by the system that will be coming back to local communities. There is a big gang problem in the Army, and I have a bad feeling it is going to get a lot worse out here once they have nowhere to go. These dudes have training and experience that is on par with LEO training when it comes to tactics, firearms, etc., and we've already seen the effects of these idiots teaching their gangbanger friends some of the stuff they have learned.

[jgraham7897]

My parents live in a little podunk town in the valley. In the last 2 years a house on their court has been shot up 5 or 6 times now. The last time was actually last night. The time before was just a couple months ago. So yeah it is getting worse.

[ak_in_ca]

I am currently assigned to the schools and I am seeing a very prevalent infatuation with gang culture with the kids from middle school through high school. I have encountered full blown gang members as young as 9 years old. The majority of the kids like to dress like and act like gangsters but lack the determination to be a true gangster. There is a huge upturn in graffiti and tagging right now and it seems to be the trendy/in thing to do now so we have a large number of youth graffiti and tagging crews/gangs.

[mej16489]

yes and places like the IE have had a significant migration of people from the ghettos of los angeles, particularly south LA. i think alot of the crime in the IE over the past decade or so is due to a gang population within these transplants and the gang culture they brought with them. the ironic thing is, that was exactly the reason many of these families moved out of south LA in the first place. too bad the gang bangers tagged along.

I've seen allot of families transplant to suburbia out of the barrio/ghetto in an effort to, 'get their children away from gangs.' But quite often its already too late and what the parents are doing is helping the gangs expand into new territories.

[Akers]

I was invited to one last week on CL, I had to skip it though...the wife wouldn't approve.

[BigDogatPlay]

i'm a criminologist with a specialization in race/ethnicity and gang research so i think i can share what academia thinks about this.

That was some outstanding analysis and thank you for posting it. I've long believed that the line of thought that crime and economic disparity were inextricably linked was fallacious. There are so many other factors, with sense of belonging and purpose being at the core.

A lot of KGs and OGs have been getting turned out of prison by population reduction, yes. And there is no doubt that the gangs have been recruiting in ever larger numbers and not just in the urban centers. I've talked to friends around the more rural parts of NorCal who are saying that the presence of gang bangers in their smaller towns and counties is palpable and growing.

The level of sophistication is where I get frightened. Some of these outfits are getting to the point where the core drug dealing business is something they simply oversee and make money from, rather than directly working themselves as street level dealers. The the entry into white collar crimes that are being seen in some quarters, on top of the increasing sophistication that is being encountered in things like takeover robberies is a natural progression for them and a warning sign to us.

[Samuelx]

I see a marked increase in gangs, gang members, gang activity, etc but I also believe we are breaking down (rotting from the inside) as a society as well....

[kimber_ss]

Thank you for the responses so far. I was hoping to hear that someone had created a "magic bullet" solution, but really didn't expect that anyone had one. Stay situational aware and keep your magazines loaded, is one way to stay prepared. I doubt that there is a gang enforcement phone number to call, when they are already aware of the situation, but "strapped" for available budget/patrols.