Concerned Citizens this Monday got a gang of new information on Cumberland County gangs this Monday.

Monmouth University Students held a Gang Violence Awareness Seminar at the Vineland City Library this Monday, November 9th. Spurred to action by Cumberland County’s rise in gang related crime in the last year, Grad Students Janice Powell, Coraline Evans, and Brenda Herbert, enlisted Detective Martinez to help give the community of Vineland the information they need to know about Gang Activity in the area.

Detective Martinez works with a 5 member gang unit within the Vineland Police Department. Martinez spoke about what gangs are, what gangs are in the area, the warning signs of gang activity, and most importantly of all, how to know if young friend or family member is getting involved with gang activity.

A Gang is defined as, “a group of 3 or more people who have a common name, sign, or identifying symbol, and who engage in criminal activity. Both males and females from all neighborhoods, races, cultures, religions and economic levels are affiliated with gangs. “
Bloods, Crips, the 18th Street Gang, and the 7th Street Gang/ Uptown Boys are the most prevalent gangs in the Cumberland County area.

Different gangs often communicate with each other via graffiti. Graffiti can be a mark of one gang’s territory, or it can be a call to war against other gangs. Graffiti helps keep police current on gang activity, but it also agitates relations between gangs, which can lead to violence and homicides. That’s why the Vineland Chief of Police is hard on graffiti, initiating a strict policy of, “report, record, remove.”

According to Bio-Clean of New Jersey CEO Andrew Yurchuck, “Graffiti is a crime stimulant. A town laden with graffiti will see higher crime rates then a town that is graffiti free. We will dispatch a team immediately and get the property back to its original condition quickly and efficiently. We have recently invested thousands of dollars in state of the art graffiti removal equipment. Our professional staff is highly trained so the business owner can get back to their daily activities with the peace of mind that their building will look brand new once again. Insurance companies will pay for the graffiti removal.” (For more information on our graffiti removal services, check out our website, or call (856) 307-1051. )

Detective Martinez went on to stress the importance of all parents monitoring their children for potential gang activity. Modern gangs know no bounds of age, race, or gender. Many gangs prefer kids who wouldn’t be suspected of doing crime, and will make friends with socially outcasted nerdy kids only to use them to peddle drugs. Gangs look for “wannabes” who could be an, “asset,” to the gang. If the gang can exploit and use your child, they will try to. Kids join gangs because they seek a sense of belonging, power, self-worth, status, physical protection, income, excitement and companionship. No child is safe from gangs unless a parent takes preventative action.

Detective Martinez then gave some tips on how to find out if your child is in a gang.
-If your child admits to “hanging out” with kids in gangs.
-If your child shows an unusual interest in one or two colors of clothing or a particular logo.
-If your child has an unusual interest in gangster-influenced music, videos, movies or websites.
-If your child uses unusual hand signals to communicate with friends
-If your child has specific drawings or gang symbols on school books, clothes, walls or tattoos.
-If your child comes home with unexplained physical injuries (fighting-related bruises, injuries to hands and/or knuckles.
-If your child has unexplained cash or goods, such as clothing or jewelry
-If your child carries a weapon
-If your child has been in trouble with the police.
-If your child exhibits changes in behavior such as:
-Withdrawing from family
-Declining school attendance
-Declining School performance, and or behavior
-Staying out late without reason
-Displaying an unusual desire for secrecy
-Exhibiting signs of drug use
-Breaking rules consistently
-Speaking in gang-style slang

Martinez stressed that parents should not be afraid to deeply investigate into their child’s life if they suspect gang activity. Parents should not be afraid to search their child’s room if gang membership is suspected. Kids may draw gang logos on the inside of their jackets and then flip them inside out when at school. Kids also keep gang colored handkerchiefs hidden in their back pockets underneath of large white T-shirts.

Parents should be concerned about the criminal activity that their child would be involved in if members of a gang, but even more concerning is the violence they would be exposed to. Gang members frequently carry weapons, and if two rival gangs meet up it could mean homicide. Furthermore, many gangs initiate their members with, “beat-ins,” an initiation process in which a new member is beaten by a gang of current members for 30 seconds.

The war on gangs continues, but hopefully, the City of Vineland is a little more educated about gangs, and a little more ready to battle gangs with preventative measures in the home.

Check back tomorrow for information about specific gangs in Cumberland County!

Labels: gangs, graffiti, graffiti removal, new jersey, Police, Vineland