Police say gangs present but not active in our towns

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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:11AM

La Grange, Western Springs and LaGrange Park police acknowledge the presence of gangs since 2008, but say activity is minimal. Residents should be aware of the potential, but not alarmed.

“I would say there’s a modest presence in La Grange. I haven’t seen turf wars or a crime wave,” said La Grange Police Chief Michael Holub. “We did have a big drug sweep in 2004 or 2005 that might have been related to gang activity, but there’s been nothing like that since then rearing its ugly head.”

Since 2008, La Grange reported 20 gang members who have lived or now reside in La Grange, though they may practice their affiliations outside of town with the Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Black Disciples. The department doesn’t track whether crimes are gang-related, the chief said.

“Many of our residents would say, ‘Really? Gangs in La Grange?’ They’re not seeing any outward presence,” Holub said. “The first sign you watch for is the gang graffiti, also called tagging, or the marking of territory, also done to insult a rival gang.”

Holub said the village is aggressive about immediate graffiti removal.

“We’re on it the next day, even if it’s not gang-related and just something silly, like Billy loves Suzie,” he said.

In addition to timely removal of graffiti, Holub said communication among area departments is key to countering gang influence.

“If something happened at a school, or it looks like there’s some gang recruitment going on, we’d like that exchange of information,” he said.

Holub said La Grange took advantage of a U.S. Department of Justice grant in 2003 for the Balanced Approach to Drug and Gang Elimination program to fund outreach educational efforts. Federal funding instead now is earmarked for crime prevention.

In LaGrange Park, Chief Daniel McCollum said activity and gang affiliation is similar to La Grange. Although the chief responded to the Crime Commission’s survey, data from the village wasn’t reflected in their recently released book on gang activity.

“We don’t see many of the obvious signs,” McCollum said. “We do occasionally have graffiti and people who come through the community, because we have so many major arteries, and they may pick our community to have a fight or some other activity.”

The chief said it is concerning that neighboring Westchester reported 50 active gang members.

“It’s always a concern when we hear those kinds of numbers,” he said. “The demographics of a community, the socioeconomic level and the number of multifamily units tend to have an impact.”

Westchester police didn’t respond to requests for comment. Affiliations for that town listed in the Crime Commission’s book include the Four Corner Hustlers, Fourth Generation Messiahs, Latin Kings, Official Swagg Boys and the Spanish Cobras.

Of greater impact than law enforcement to counter gangs are strong families and proactive schools, McCollum said.

In 1999, the village launched the Adopt-A-Cop program, matching an officer with a grade school classroom to develop relationships and teach about various safety and crime prevention topics.

Although residents don’t necessarily have a reason to be concerned about gangs, they should be vigilant, and police appreciate their response.

“It’s really important people feel confident in calling the police,” he said. “It’s what’s on our safety bulletins, be a nosy neighbor.”

In Western Springs, the statistic of 20 active gang members since 2008 includes those who are passing through town and are stopped for a traffic violation, as well as persons staying temporarily with family or friends, said Deputy Police Chief Brian Budds.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that those gang members live in Western Springs. They may have been in Western Springs at some point in time, or there may be others that we’re not aware of or had contact with,” Budds said. “There’s no drug trafficking or possession that we can link or associate with a known gang member.

“I would not be alarmed by those numbers at all. It’s a broad data range,” he said. “We’ve had very little or no activity, and hopefully we never will.”

Gang affiliations include the Latin Kings, Simon City Royals and Two-Six.

Although the department doesn’t offer formalized gang resistance training, the topic is addressed through a crime prevention officer at the elementary schools and a resource office at the Lyons Township High School South Campus for freshmen and sophomores in Western Springs.

In addition to the officer at LT, several others are certified with training for gang enforcement to identify problems and respond appropriately, Budds said.

Resident should be aware of and report any suspicious activity involving weapons, drug trafficking, traffic in and out of a home at odd hours, or car-to-car transactions, he said.

“We don’t expect our residents to know symbols or logos or gang colors. Our officers are trained to identify those things,” Budds said. “The main thing is to call, and we can take it from there.”