Tagging ‘Crews’ Not Stereotypical Gangs
Police warn parents to keep a closer eye on their children because not all gangs fit into a stereotype.
By Gloria Angelina Castillo, EGP Staff Writer
Officer Mitchell Carrillo has been with the Bell Gardens Police Department for two years and patrols the streets on the weekends, and he says a current problem in the city is the graffiti groups called “taggers,” “tagging crews,” “party crews” or simply “crews.”
He thinks there might be an equal amount of gang members and taggers in the city. He also implies that criminals don’t all fit a single stereotype.
“Taggers act like gang members,” Carrillo said. “They congregate in groups, they display or show some sign or symbol and they commit crimes.”
He says that even some “skate crews” commit crimes and behave like gangs.
Carrillo says these groups of young people engage in the same types of behaviors and crimes that traditional gangs commit— they fight over territory, they are involved in shootings, assaults, and the use and sale of drugs.
The majority of gang members are between ages 8 and 22, and the number of girls in gangs is growing, according to the National Crime Prevention Council.
Courtesy of Santa Ana Police Department
During Bell Gardens Police Chief Keith Kilmer’s presentation Monday at the City Council meeting, he showed that the majority of the 212 victims of homicides in the County of Los Angeles are young Latino men between the ages of 10 and 29.
While homicides in Bell Gardens are down 50 percent this year so far, the statistics on victims should make any parent think twice about his child’s friends and the type of activities he or she could be involved in, caution police.
Gang Detective Angel Puente told EGP that besides tagging crews, there are also individuals who consider themselves artists who produce graffiti. He said their work is easy to identify because they write “ONER” or “1R” besides their graffiti to show that they are alone.
Puente says taggers are motivated by the same reasons as typical gang members—by the popularity, but also the access to drugs and money that can be made from illegal activities.
However, Puente says taggers are a different generation of gang members, they are not stereotypical, and many even use the social networking website MySpace to showcase their graffiti and crimes.
While not all can be identified as troublemakers, they can become the target of violence, or shootings, by other tagging groups or gangs.
Currently, the family of Michael Cardenas, the 17-year-old killed at Veterans Park on Sept 23, is mourning his death, and police continue their investigations.
The untimely death of the young man is a tragedy but could serve as a reminder to parents to think about prevention and how to minimize the opportunities their children have to be in situations, which could jeopardize their safety or future.
While some parents may not think their children are on the wrong path, it is important to remain vigilant—for the good of the child and the whole family, say police.
Carrillo says that often times, calls to police for nuisance and crime incidents at one location don’t stop until the family is evicted and parents are forced to move to another residence or out of the city.
Puente says the safety of families of taggers can be compromised if there is graffiti in or around the home marking it as a tagger hangout. He says drugs and disobedient behavior can lead to violent youths who hurt their families, and that the taggers can be a bad example for their siblings. If all that isn’t enough, parents or guardians are also financially impacted when taggers are prosecuted for damaging properties with their graffiti, and hey are forced to pay for the damage their under-aged child causes.
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October 16, 2008 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
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One Response to “Tagging ‘Crews’ Not Stereotypical Gangs”
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Some of these kids just tag up things because they think it’s considered art which most of it is and most or some of these kids don’t have to be in a gang to tag. They just want to let the public know that with out their art everything would be boring. These kids just want to let their mind be free and show you what they’re thinking. Having places or buildings in every city put aside for taggers would be a great idea i think.