In the News

Youth Gangs and Security

 

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, 28 March 2011, a fight broke out in Colonia San Antonio between two gangs: the Garambullos (based in San Antonio and named for a species of cactus) and the Cuevitas (the name of a neighboring colonia in San Miguel.) All police units on duty responded to the scene, but it was not until 4:00 AM on Sunday morning that the area was secured and the police were able to withdraw.

 

The incident was not the first of its kind in San Miguel and it is not likely to be the last. Urban gangs predate Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues. Although not nearly as violent as many of their US and Canadian cousins, street gangs are neither new to San Miguel nor well understood by the majority of the English-speaking community.

 

This article will discuss the sociology of gangs and, with that as a background, provide information on the events of 28 March.

Bear in mind, that there is no magic bullet that can end gang activity here, or in any other city – not incarceration, not ever stricter laws, not community sports activities, not stricter parenting, not church and school counseling. No one thing alone appears to work. The experts believe that a mix of remedies has the best chance of success and that the whole community -- city, church, parents, school, business people, police and ordinary citizens -- must join together in a concerted effort to solve the problem.

 

Development of local intelligence on gang activities and interests is an obvious and mandatory part of dealing with gang activity. But, it is only a part; while police are often able to develop information sources within individual groups, gang life is fluid – plans, targets and tactics change quickly and often information is outdated as soon as it is acquired. In any case, even the best and most sophisticated police work deals only with the symptoms. The roots of the problem lie within the culture, within the socioeconomic realities of the community.

 

Definition, Perceived Benefits and Environment: Generally, a gang can be considered to be a loosely organized group of individuals who collaborate together for social reasons.

 

A number of theories exist to explain gang formation. One is that gangs develop more or less spontaneously when social control is weak and disorganized, i.e. when family, school, church, civic structures, etc. are frail. Another, related, theory holds that young men join gangs to compensate for the psychological problems they experience because they live in poverty and feel themselves unable to enter the economic mainstream; for these young people the gang provides an alternative mainstream. Yet another theory suggests that young men living in conditions of poverty are merely aping their elders’ gang activities.
Many young people who gravitate to gangs do so out of a need to belong to something, and for the power that is gained from being part of a recognized group. 

 

Sociologists as well as gang members have isolated the following things young people hope to find in gang life: identity, recognition, belonging, discipline, love and money. Gang members have often reported that listening and sharing troubles with one another are a big draw. Conversely, many young people are intimidated into joining gangs to avoid continued harassment and, once initiated, the new member is often told there is no way out and reprisals will be meted out to him and his loved ones should he attempt to leave the group.

 

Reputation, Respect, Disrespect and Vengeance: Most gang members seek power. Joining a group known to have a reputation gives a young person looking for a purpose something to belong to. (It is important to note that a reputation extends not only to each individual gang member, but also to the gang as a whole. In addition to protecting their territory, both physical and economic, whole gangs fight each other to defend their group reputations.)

 

Gang members claim to enjoy the respect (read fear) that gang affiliation brings. Sometimes the respect comes from non-gang members within the “hood” who believe they are living safe under their local gang’s protection. Respect is sought for not only the individual member, but also for his family, territory, and various other things, real or perceived, in the mind of the gang member. 

 

Some gangs require that the gang member must always show disrespect to rival gang members. In gang culture, no challenge goes unanswered and retaliatory acts of violence often follow an event perceived as a “dis.” A common occurrence is a confrontation between a gang set and a single rival gang member. Outnumbered, the lone member departs the area and returns with his fellows to complete the confrontation that will keep his reputation (and his gang’s) intact.

 

Structure and Style: Gangs generally have a leader or group of leaders who issue orders and reap the fruits of the gang's activities. A gang’s members may also wear specific colors, certain types of clothing or adopt tattoos or brands. Many gangs also adopt unique hairstyles and communicate through the use of hand signals and graffiti. (It would be a mistake to assume that a young person belongs to a gang simply because he adopts a particular type of dress or style. Some young people are only playing “dress up” and exhibit gang styles to look “cool.”)

 

Communications: Graffiti is the most common way for urban gangs to communicate. Organized graffiti is one of the first signs that gangs are taking hold in a neighborhood and is also an excellent way to track gang growth and affiliation. Graffiti is intelligible to the gang who writes it, but often is also intelligible to members of rival gangs because it communicates challenges and warnings.

 

The 28 March 2011 Disturbance in Colonia San Antonio:  A report of the 28 March 2011 disturbance is available on the MSC’s Crime Reports Website at http://sanmiguelsecurity.wordpress.com/2011/03/. There appears to be a correlation between some of the sociologists’ findings about gang behavior, described above, and the San Antonio events. First, both the Garambullos and the Cuevitas gangs come from economically depressed areas where some, but probably not all, elements of social control are weak. It seems plausible that these conditions foster a desire in susceptible young people for identity, recognition, belonging, discipline, love and money, the elements that gang members tell sociologists they hope the gang will supply. 

 

We do not know the specific grievance that set the Garambullos and the Cuevitas against each other; possibly it was a territorial fight, possibly retaliation for a real or perceived show of disrespect. One area resident reported sensing a building of “tension” in the area Saturday evening. If the tension had been reported, increased police patrols might have averted the violence, but “tension” is a nebulous and subjective perception. We believe that few people would report such an insubstantial feeling to the police. What we do know is that residents did report the violence once it got started and that the police responded, only to have the two gangs join forces against them. 

 

At that point, the police were faced with a tactical decision. Gang members were armed with machetes and although the police were far better armed and could have “won” the battle, causalities were deemed likely on both sides. For that reason the police opted to stand fast and the gangs, realizing they could not goad the police into an attack and reluctant to mount a charge, retreated, venting their anger and frustration by damaging six motor vehicles parked along the street as they withdrew. 

 

Limitations on Police Power: The incident is a good example of the limits of police effectiveness in combating gangs. Injuries, possibly even fatalities, were likely had the police joined the battle, an outcome the police wished to avoid. Their adversaries were young and the police had no wish to create martyrs who the gangs would need to avenge. In addition, by law, the police cannot make an arrest for an aggressive action that does not result in a verifiable injury – waving a machete in front of a policeperson is not a punishable offense; cutting a policeperson is. [There are plans to revise Mexican law to give police additional power to make arrests, but the revisions will not give the police powers on a par with their US or Canadian counterparts.]

 

Police effectiveness is also limited by the perennial reluctance of victims to report crimes to the Ministerio Publico (MP.) There are reasons for this reluctance; among them are fear of retribution, apathy and an unwillingness (or inability due to work schedules, etc.) to take the time to make a crime report. Without a crime report, there is no possibility of court action against perpetrators. Even if the police make an arrest, if no crime report is filed, the police must set an arrestee free after 36 hours of detention. Because victim reluctance to report crimes is common knowledge, gang members often act with little fear of punishment.

It seems clear that, unaided, the police can do little more than mitigate the effects of gang violence when it occurs and, equally clear, that in the face of the economic and social realities in the areas where gangs are active, some young people will continue to be attracted to gang membership. Gangs will continue to prosper as long as a community is unwilling or unable to unite to change the existing socioeconomic facts of life.

 

In San Miguel, the police regularly speak to young people’s groups in an effort to dissuade them from participating in criminal activity.

Source Note: Primary sources for this article include the research and findings of Steve Nawojczyk, http://www.gangwar.com/dynamics.htm, Copyright 1997, The Nawojczyk Group, and David J. Bordua, Ann Arbor, Michigan http://ann.sagepub.com/content/338/1/119.

 

Further reading: A keyword search on “gang violence” yielded 451 titles on Barnes & Noble’s website, and 729 on Amazon.com.

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