Gangs in Crestview?

The Gang Reduction Task Force of Okaloosa and Walton counties believes that one way to combat any nascent gang activity in the Crestview area is to be proactive with them. Public education and community awareness programs make citizens more aware of the visual, verbal and non-verbal indicators.

Mike Currie, program director at the Okaloosa Youth Academy, presented a gang information program for the Government Issues Committee of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce recently. He has worked in the criminal justice system for more than 21 years and is the chairperson for the Okaloosa and Walton Prevention/Intervention Committee of the Florida Gang Reduction Task Force.

“While Crestview and Okaloosa County have a limited number of gang activities,” Currie said, “it is our job to keep it that way.”

One of their primary sources of information about gang activities is the social networking system. Gang members are great communicators and recruiters through the Internet, Currie said. Facebook, YouTube and MySpace are all sources of research and information for law enforcement officers as contents not set up as private pages fall under public domain.

“Gang members are communicators,” he explained. “They make music videos and post pictures of each other to their profiles. They tattoo themselves with their affiliation, throw up signs and wear their chosen color clothes. They even wear their clothes a particular way.”

Gang names, colors, slogans, tattoos, signs and symbols identify them to each other and to rival gangs. One of the first signs of gang activity is graffiti on walls, local landmarks, roads, signs or fences. Symbols, an encoded alphabet or messages are left in the color associated with the gang. Recently, a wall behind Coney Island on Main Street in Crestview was discovered to be defaced.

“We paint over the markings as soon as we find them,” Currie said. “Not only is it defacing public property when they leave their marks, it is also meant to draw boundary lines and that is not a possibility.

“Throwing up (displaying hand signals), stacking (a progression of hand signals) or walking with hand signs is one of the most obvious ways to make themselves known,” Currie said. “Wearing a certain color bandana or a certain professional or college sport jersey, numeric and alpha-based codes, wearing hats, pants or shoes a certain way are all signals. But I’m not saying that every kid who marks up his notebook or wears a bandana on her hair is a gang member.”

He attributed the deciding factors of gang membership as: giving a sense of security, belonging, or protection; lack of a support system; to establish status or respect; quick financial gains; or peer pressure.

Alyn Beauregard is the Region 1 coordinator for the task force. The all-volunteer group is not funded by state or federal agencies and has been organized less than a year.

“Much of our work is in the discovery stages,” said Beauregard. “We are entering into partnerships with schools, neighborhood watch programs, community organizations, law enforcement and governmental agencies and working to get the word out that we are ready to educate our communities.”

The Office of the Attorney General developed the statewide agency and divided the state into seven regions, each with a task force. Region 1 includes Okaloosa County and the nine mostly northwestern counties.

“I am always quick to say that we live on the world famous Emerald Coast and that we are open for business with one of the best vacation destinations in the world right at our back doors,” Currie added. “But we want to keep that pristine family destination or residency reputation. This is where we raise our kids.

“We have to familiarize ourselves with the warning signs because strong and positive parental awareness is the key to prevention,” he said. “We may still be a new organization but we are available to conduct awareness and educational programs.”

The Okaloosa and Walton Prevention/Intervention Committee meets the second Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Learning Resource Center, room 131, at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville. For more information on the task force call Beauregard at 981-2172. To send anonymous reports or to schedule a training session, e-mail owgrtf@cox.net.