Gang activity higher in Pinal than Phoenix, Tucson
Youth gang activity higher in Pinal than
Phoenix, Tucson
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By KEVIN REAGAN Staff
Writer
·
May 27, 2017 Updated May 28, 2017
PHOENIX — Gang
participation by Pinal County youths is a little more common compared to the
state’s most populated counties.
Results from last
year’s Arizona Youth Survey show eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in Pinal
County admitted to belonging to a gang at higher rates than those in Pima and
Maricopa counties.
For example, 8.1
percent of high school seniors in Pinal County reported gang membership —
that’s at least one percentage point greater than rates observed in the
metropolitan areas of Tucson and Phoenix.
The bigger cities have
gang participation from all age groups, according to Arizona Department of
Public Safety Sgt. Raul Vega, but gang affiliation in the Casa Grande region
seems to be more prevalent among youth in their late teens and early 20s.
Vega is part of the
agency’s statewide anti-gang task force and only recently began focusing on the
Pinal County area. Unlike in the bigger cities, gang members roam all over the
place in this region, sometimes associating with perceived rival gang members.
Vega said it’s not
unusual to see a Blood and a Crip member sitting in a car together — a scenario
not likely to happen in Phoenix. ( Gangs across the US AZ Southeast News)
“Pinal County’s kind
of its own animal,” said DPS Detective Matt Reeves, who also specializes in
investigating Pinal County.
Reeves was around 10
years ago when DPS led an anti-gang crackdown in Pinal County that led to the
arrests of over 20 suspected gangsters. At the time, authorities described the
region as being plagued by an “all-out gang war.”
One of the suspects
arrested was Brandon Thompson, who was 22 when he was arrested in Casa Grande
on multiple drug charges. According to court documents, Thompson sold crack
cocaine to a police informant at a Fifth Street residence in October 2007.
Thompson graduated
high school and attended college for three years. But court documents describe
him as being in a family of alleged gang members.
Strong family ties
associated with local gangs is one factor authorities say distinguishes Pinal
County’s street gangs from others in Arizona. Reeves said this characteristic
can make them more disorganized and unstructured since gang membership becomes
something “you’re born into” rather than recruited.
Friendship and making
money were the top two reasons Pinal teens gave for wanting to join a gang.
Statewide, friendship had been the most common reason for youth gang membership
but the trend has shifted more toward making money over the last four years.
The Arizona Criminal
Justice Commission conducts a statewide youth survey every two years to assess
the frequency of substance abuse, gang involvement and bullying among Arizona’s
teenagers.
At least 5,000 Pinal
County teenagers participated in the commission’s 2016 youth survey, answering
whether they’d ever stolen for a gang or had friends involved in gang
activities.
More than 20 percent
of Pinal’s 10th-graders thought it was cool to be in a gang — the second highest
rate reported in Arizona behind Yavapai County.
DPS investigators
agree that money is a major motivator for local youths wanting to join a gang.
In an age when social media websites have become more prevalent, Vega said gang
members are using these platforms to advertise what one can earn by working for
a street gang.
A 2015 report by the
FBI found that the use of social media by gangsters has risen significantly in
recent years — allowing gangsters across the country a tool to recruit new
members, thwart law enforcement and target rival gangs.
According to Reeves,
gang violence has been relatively quiet in Pinal County since DPS conducted its
crackdown, nicknamed “Operation Enough is Enough,” back in 2007. Drug deals and
thefts have continued, but authorities haven’t seen the same level of assaults
and drive-by shootings that were observed a decade ago.
Suspects arrested back
then, like Brandon Thompson, have already been released or may soon be
released. Vega said “it’s scary” to think some of these players may return to
the community, since they’re the ones most likely to organize and be active.
Merven Stenson of the
Eloy Police Department said his agency is fully aware of incarcerated gang
members that will soon be released. Before these offenders went away, he said
his city had a violent problem between Bloods and Crips.
Gang activity has
decreased since then, mostly because Stenson said that low-key players who
weren’t arrested moved elsewhere to areas like Arizona City.
He said a known
Phoenix gangster was arrested in recent weeks on an outstanding warrant. Like
other nearby gangsters, Stenson said the suspect frequented the areas of Eloy
and Casa Grande often.
Pinal County has
always been a good “transit area” for outside gangs to make stops in, said Vega.
Even if local gang activity is quiet, simple geography prevents the area from
avoiding the presence of Phoenix and Tucson criminals.
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