Gangs move, change to stay ahead of police

Raleigh, N.C. — Identifying gang members has become more difficult as they change their signs and clothing to remain a step ahead of law enforcement and as they become more mobile, experts said Wednesday.

Two incidents in recent days, a melee at the Triangle Town Center mall and a shooting on the North Carolina State University campus, have turned a spotlight on gangs in Raleigh. Police Chief Harry Dolan said Monday that the city has a "significant" gang problem that requires a community-wide response.

According to a recent study, there are 13 recognized gangs in Wake County, with the Bloods being the most prominent. There are about 2,400 known gang members or associates in the county. Associates are members who might not live in the area but who have spent considerable time or have been arrested locally.

Shenekia Weeks, a member of the Wake County Gang Task Force, said local gangs are changing the way the look and where they live a contrast to the stereotype of gangs carving out territories that they defend.

"Gang members do not want be detected. They want to continue their criminal enterprise, so they're going to move and try to be as fluid as they can be without being detected," Weeks said.

Most gangs are relatively new to the area, and their members are young, according to Weeks and Danya Perry, a gang expert with North Carolina Communities in Schools.

"We are starting to see the manifestation of the first generation of gangs rooted here in North Carolina," Perry said.

Shootings and fights like the two recent incidents are taking place in high-profile places because Wake County gangs don't have roots in specific neighborhoods, he said.

"The incident at the mall, that certainly was a warning flag for everybody that we need to be looking at this issue because it's spilling over," he said.

Communities need to offer more after-school activities and jobs for teens to begin fixing the problem, gang experts said.

"I think most gang experts will tell you that we're probably five years behind what's really going on," Perry said.

84 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 84 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

nice new subdivisions in SE raleigh is like makeup on an ugly woman Bob Sidel

LOL, Bob, Bob, Bob you have me cracking up here laughing. That is a good one. But until you have seen all parts of SE Raleigh well, just say what you want.

bronzegoddess40
July 31, 2008 4:04 p.m.

nice new subdivisions in SE raleigh is like makeup on an ugly woman

Bob Sidel
July 31, 2008 3:26 p.m.

"I dont care what they do as long as they stay in SE raleigh with the rest of the hoodlums"

Wow...didn't realize only "hoodlums" lived in SE Raleigh...smh at ignorance... uncalumni02 Hmmmmm....... How many gang related incidents are reported being perpetrated by residents of say, Governor's Club in Chapel Hill? Hmmmmmm..... Who is the most ignorant? Or is it just painful naivete?

rabidpro= don't you be naive or ignorant. Believe you me, there are hoodlums everywhere just because they have not raised their ugly heads, they are there. Have you ever been to the complete area of Southeast Raleigh? If you did I think you would be pleasantly surprised that all of it is not slums or ghettos, with shiftless folks lying around all over the place. There are subdivisions in that are that are along the scale of a lot of places in North Raleigh, with hard working people that are educated and living a good life.

bronzegoddess40
July 31, 2008 2:56 p.m.

as a wake county high school teacher, i would welcome more training and information on gang signs and colors. there's a little video we had to watch, but wake's whole attitude is well, we don't have that problem...so don't worry too much about it.

carolinagirl75
July 31, 2008 2:26 p.m.

I realize people from all walks of life become gangbangers. But that can't hide the fact that there is a real problem here with black culture that is overwhelmingly responsible for this. It's time to stop blasting people for pointing this out while blaming everyone but the criminals themselves. We should stiffen the penalties for these crimes to deter them, but the real solution has to come from within the black community. Everytime the goverment tries to solve this with socialist programs (see rlewis' posts), they make the problem worse. Until young black people wake up and decide it's cooler to read a book, go to school, and hold down a job than it is to knock someone up, commit crimes, and live off someone else's dime... then this problem will persist. Until they figure this out and better themselves, I support building bigger jails to hold them all.

readme
July 31, 2008 2:21 p.m.