A report on gang activity in Durham has just been published by the Gang Reduction Strategy Steering Committee. A link to the report is below.
The report includes data on crime, school attendance, social factors affecting youth crime and gang associations and programs in place to prevent and dissuade youngsters from involving themselves with criminal gangs.
A link is below:
"Don't Shoot: One Man, a Street Fellowship and the End Of Violence In Inner-City 
America" is a must read (well, maybe a you-really-ought-to-read) around City Hall and Police HQ these days.
"It's something that caught my attention," said City Manager Tom Bonfield. After he read it, Bonfield bought copies for City Council members. Bonfield said Police Chief Jose L. Lopez has also bought copies for his command staff.
"There's a lot of people looking at it," Bonfield said.
The 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found 37 percent of surveyed middle schools students agree gangs are a problem at school, compared with about 29 percent of their statewide peers. Fifty-four percent of Durham high school respondents think gangs are a problem, compared with 36 percent of their peers.
Knightdale High School has plenty of bright, hard-working students and teachers. I see that almost every time I visit.
Last week, I saw the dark side of Knightdale High -- gang presence. I don't mean to imply that Knightdale High is the only high school in Wake County with gangs. The sad state is that it's a countywide problem.
Gangs are disturbing with their culture of crime and violence. I talked to School Resource Officer Mark Batey about gangs because a student suspected of gang activity allegedly assaulted him last week. Batey was attempting to take away a rosary -- now used by some gangs to show membership. (Wake County has a 'no-tolerance' policy for gang clothing, articles, and display of gang symbols.) After repeatedly asking the youth to give him the rosary with no result, he said he reached for it. The young man grabbed Batey's arm, Batey said.
Batey said most of the time gang activity is hard to detect because gang members don't like to call attention to their presence. It's only known many times when a fight breaks out or when school property is marred with gang graffiti as it was last week.
Gang members wear certain types of clothing or jewelry that change as authorities start to recognize them. It's a world of code and secrecy -- they have their own alphabet. A recent disturbing characteristic is the co-opting of a religious ornament as a symbol.
Batey said after police and school officials started confiscating beaded bracelets and necklaces gang members wore, they turned to rosaries to show membership.
This whole thing is so vexing and heart breaking -- that young people can find these types of groups attractive. How do you turn this all around? No tolerance for it is a good start.
We get more than 1,400 letters a month and have room to print fewer than 280. Sometimes we move letters into the publishing pipeline only to have them overrun by other things. Here are some of those letters.
During his visit to The N&O this week, Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison was asked about the crowded conditions in the jails and whether he thinks the criminal justice system moves a bit too slowly for his taste. For starters, he said he has about 1,300 beds and about 1,400 prisoners on any given day, one time reaching a high of 1,550. Most days, there are 90 people in the jail who admit to being gang members (see attached audio). Interestingly, he said that about 100 countries are represented in the jail population. About 85 percent of those in jail are people awaiting trial, he said.
And the biggest hindrance to getting those folks to their dates with madame justice? Game-playing lawyers.
Take a listen.
Enloe High School officials are saying there's no connection between the cancellation of the Homecoming Dance and pep rally and a gang-related fight earlier this month.
On Sept. 11, six Enloe students were arrested after a series of fights at school that Raleigh police have labeled as gang-related. It was on the minds of some Enloe students when it was announced Thursday that the dance was canceled.
Enloe Principal Beth Cochran said the Oct. 4 dance was canceled strictly because not enough tickets were sold. She said only 180 tickets were sold instead of the 300 needed to break even.
