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Numbers are down, but gangs remain in G.I.

The Grand Island Independent - 3/18/2018

The gang presence in Grand Island is much less than it was before Operation Peer Pressure and other programs carried out by the Grand Island Police Department in 2009 and 2010.

Still, gangs are problem you have to keep an eye on, says Capt. Jim Duering. "Even though we're not seeing a lot of activity right now," police have to take a zero-tolerance approach to what they do see, Duering said. Police know it's something that can grow quickly in the school system and among young people.

Members of gangs still get in altercations. Police say an assault at Eagle Scout Lake shortly before midnight Feb. 27 was gang-related. Three people were involved in the fight, which included a knife. A 26-year-old man was arrested and citations were given to 19-year-old and 17-year-old males.

Police don't know if the Eagle Scout fight was gang-motivated, Duering said. But some of the participants had gang ties.

At one point, the police department's contacts with gang members "were down about 65 percent from what they were prior to Peer Pressure," Duering said.

"They're back up a little bit," Duering said. He doesn't yet have any statistics from last year. "But they're still down probably over 50 percent from what they were prior to Peer Pressure," said Duering, who used to be in charge of the department's gang unit.

Gang activity is growing along with Grand Island's crime rate, says Officer Chad Seyler.

Operation Peer Pressure "seemed to bring it all down. But now it's on a slow to steady rise," Seyler said.

It's "on its way back up," Seyler said, adding that "we're trying to keep our handle on it."

Seyler, who is now the lead gang investigator, says there are seven to 10 gangs in Grand Island.

Gang members are involved in a disturbance every month or two, Seyler said.

But the numbers aren't great. Duering said. "We really haven't had a lot of gang-related assaults or violence," he said.

The city "probably had a few more last year" but "almost none the year before that," he said. So they've been a lot fewer and far between than what they were, Duering said. "I think we're doing a good job of keeping that at bay."

Some gangs have more members than others. Police might not deal with a gang on a regular basis. But there are others that police might have contact with weekly, Seyler said.

In some gangs, "Some of the guys are getting older, and aren't as active," Seyler said. In other cases, "younger ones are up and coming and wanting to make a name for themselves."

In Grand Island, some gang members are in their 40s, Seyler said.

When members of gangs are involved in a rumble, what are they fighting about?

"It could be over anything. It could be over a girlfriend. It could be over drugs. It could be over a number of things," Seyler said.

The disturbance might be about a friend. But if a member of a gang is there, "we flag it as a gang involvement," Seyler said.

Gang interest is felt by young people from about middle-school age to the late teens.

"Fifteen to 19 is really kind of the key age for membership. But recruiting happens a little bit before that," Duering said.

Some of the dynamics of gangs have changed a bit, Duering said.

On both a local and national scale, gangs have shifted away from territorial concerns and violence and moved more toward property crimes, such as burglary.

Traditionally, gangs form their structures around correctional systems and drug distribution, Duering said.

In the former case, members rely on their gangs for protection when they get sent to prison.

In this region, drug distribution "pretty much went out the window with Colorado legalizing marijuana," Duering said. While not everyone has access to large amounts of methamphetamine "anyone who wants to distribute marijuana can get it easily now."

That change flattened out the hierarchical structure, especially with youth gangs, Duering said.

As a result, police started seeing less violence among gangs. Instead, members of different gangs are sharing together in criminal activity.

That development is good in that greater structure is usually accompanied by "greater levels of criminal influence and crime," Duering said. The bad part for police is that "it's sometimes harder to track, and there are no clear lines as to who's doing what."

Nationally, law enforcement has become better at infiltrating drug rings, and federal sentences have gotten longer for drug-related offenses, Duering said. Gangs have realized that while they might get 20 years for dealing dope, the penalties for burglary are considerably less severe.

Smaller communities around Grand Island might have a small gang presence. But the membership is not great enough to cause problems.

In those communities, you might have a gang member or two, Duering said. "So you'll see some graffiti and you may see small levels of activity," Duering said. But there won't be significant crime, because there are "no rivals and there's not enough people for them to create any power base."