Transcript School & community resources

Gang Awareness & Personal Safety
Pacific Collegiate School
11-15-12
 Sgt. Stefan Fish
 Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force
 (831)345-4940
 [email protected]
Gang Awareness:
911 total members reported by law enforcement as
of May 11, 2012 in the County of Santa Cruz
CPD
1%
WPD
53%
SVPD
0%
SCSO
16%
SCPD
30%
Ethnic Make-up of Santa Cruz County Gangs
as reported by Santa Cruz County Law Enforcement
3%
0% 0%
Asian
15%
Black
Hispanic
White
82%
Unkown
Age of Santa Cruz County Gang Members
as reported by Santa Cruz County Law Enforcement
2%
4% 4%
14-17
18-21
10%
23%
22-25
26-29
15%
30-33
19%
23%
34-37
38-41
42-45
Gang Member Gender
Male
Female
4%
96%
Why Do Youth Join A Gang?
o
Wanting to belong
o
Neighborhood influences
o
Family history of gang involvement
o
Protection
o
Peer Pressure, Girlfriend/boyfriend influence
o
Economic opportunity (make easy money through
crime)
o
Media influence (music, movies, internet)
Signs of Youth Gang Involvement
1.
They may have new friends, stop hanging out with their
old friends. They may not let you meet their new friends.
2. They may start spending a lot of time away from home.
3. They may display a lack of interest in school or school
related activities and their grades may drop.
4. They become difficult to deal with, argumentative
5. They may start to dress differently, wearing only one
color or specific colors. They may refuse to wear a specific
color (usually red or blue).
6. They may start to use nicknames or refer to their friends
by nicknames instead of their real names
7. They may have graffiti-like artwork on their school books
or folders.
Gang Clothing
831
Drawings
Predominant Gangs
in Santa Cruz
Sureños
•Sur
•Trece
• 13
•XIII
•X3
•Southsider
•The thirteenth letter of the alphabet
(“M”)
•The color blue
•Three dots tattooed on their hand
Santa Cruz Sureños
 Beach Flats
 Brown Pride
 Santa East Side
Derogatory terms used
against Sureños:
 Scrap/scrapa
 Sur-rata
 Scrapeño
 Chope
Sureño Tattoos
Sureño graffiti
Norteños
•Norte
•Northsider
•Catorce
•ENE
•14
•XIV
•X4
•XIVer
•The fourteenth letter of the
alphabet (“N”)
• Four dots
•The color red
Santa Cruz Norteños
 West-side Chicos
 Northside
Derogatory terms used
against Norteños:
 Chapete
 Estrella
 Nortonto
 Buster
Norteño Tattoos
Norteño Graffiti
Other Santa Cruz Gangs
 MID-TOWN (White Pride) - Gang color
“Green”
 EAST SIDE SANTA CRUZ -ESSC (White Pride) -
Gang color “Blue”
 Mara salvatrucha- ms13 – Salvadorian
Descents - Gang Color “Blue”
Gang Hand signs
Strategies For Parents
•
Be a Responsible role Model For Your Child
•
Pay Attention to Your Child
•
Listen & Communicate Honestly with your Child
•
Pay Attention to Your Child's Friends
•
Meet and Talk With Your Child's Friends’ Parents
•
Look through your child’s belongings
•
Know what your child is doing on the internet
Strategies For Parents
•
Pay Attention To School Grades
•
Get Involved with Your Child’s School & Talk To ther
Teachers
•
Most Important: Spend Time With Your Child
•
Provide Your Child With After-School Activities, So They
Will Not Have Too Much Idle Time To Spend out on the
streets.
•
Spend quality time with your child. Make time for your
family to play, eat meals together, take trips and have family
meetings to talk about plans, feelings, and complaints.
Personal Safety:
 Be aware of your surroundings
 Be aware of your clothing and whether it may be
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perceived by others as gang affiliation
Have a cell phone and know your location at any given
time.
If you see suspected gang members, switch sides of the
street and avoid eye contact. Gangs often are looking for
anyone who they perceive opposes/challenges them.
Consider your escape routes at all times.
Walk in larger groups. Gang members tend to be
cowardly and prey on situations they feel confident they
can win unfairly
Personal Safety continued
 If a gang member confronts you, often they will ask
questions such as “what do you claim?” or “where you
from?” Best response is to nothing, turn and run. Gangs
look for any challenge to their confrontation.
Local resources:
 “School & Community Resources” guide
available soon through the B.A.S.T.A.(Broadbased Apprehension, Suppression, Treatment
and Alternatives) group.
 Contact B.A.S.T.A. Project Coordinator Denise
Pitman-Rosas(C.O.E.) for how to obtain this.
831-466-5736 or [email protected]
Questions?