Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2007 Source: Sheboygan Press (WI) Copyright: 2007 Sheboygan Press Contact: http://www.sheboygan-press.com/contact/forms/editor_letter.shtml Website: http://www.sheboygan-press.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3993 Authors: Eric Litke and Belia Ortega, Sheboygan Press staff GANGS IN SHEBOYGAN: COPS GETTING A HANDLE ON PROBLEM Gangs are on the rise in Sheboygan. Though the groups are less visible and the members less violent than their big-city counterparts, Sheboygan gang-bangers are nevertheless a growing threat that police say now number 1,000 members strong. "Over the last two years we've seen a very large spike in the gangs showing up in Sheboygan -- the number of gangs (is) significantly rising," said Officer Paul Olsen of the Sheboygan Police Department's Street Crimes Unit. "Hopefully we can get a handle on it and prevent it from getting worse. However, with our current situation of resources and where we allocate our time and investigations, it's hard to say what it's going to be five or 10 years from now." The unit, which deals with gang activity in the city, has identified 42 gangs in the city, he said. The groups average 20 to 30 members but range in size from the single-digits to more than 100 members. And those gang members keep police busy -- members of 26 different gangs have been arrested since April, when corrections officers formed a volunteer Gang Enforcement Team to begin tracking gang arrests more closely, said team leader and founder Craig Stewart, a county corrections officer. Gangs, primarily through involvement in the drug trade, account for half of all crime in the City of Sheboygan, according to the street crimes unit. Those crimes are a far cry from those associated with gangs elsewhere - -- there have been four gang-related shootings here since the start of 2005 -- but the some officials see the potential for a bigger problem. "While (Sheboygan gangs) may be involved in illegal activities to some degree, we haven't seen the type of violent gang behavior that's been present in a lot of urban areas," said Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco. "Yeah, we have a gang problem in Sheboygan. We don't want it any worse, and we certainly don't want outside affiliated gangs upping the ante here for more violence." Olsen said gang activity increased this summer as an escalation in the amount of gang graffiti spawned an increase in gang fights as members retaliated for the tagging but has slowed somewhat in recent weeks. The unit typically responds to two or three gang-related disturbances weekly now, compared to the almost daily pace early this summer. But the big picture is that gangs must be taken seriously, he said. The unit, formerly the Gang Suppression Unit, served more than 160 search warrants and recovered about 25 guns in the last three years, the majority of both in gang-related incidents, Olsen said. "Gang activity currently in Sheboygan is on the upswing, and myself and my partners would all be cautious of disregarding it or taking it lightly," Olsen said. "People say, well, this is Sheboygan, it isn't like Milwaukee or Chicago or LA ... so there's no gang problem. And they're right; we don't have that right now, but that's why it's important to stay on top of all this." Defining the Problem The definition of a gang varies both legally and in common usage, but Sheboygan police define it as a group with common identifying characteristics that engages in cooperative criminal activity. "There's really no such thing as a gang 'wannabe,'" said Officer Kurt Zempel of the unit. "If the person is out there committing crimes and acting consistent with the gang lifestyle, then he's a gang member." Lt. Kurt Brasser, head of the Sheboygan County Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Group, the county drug unit, said the clearest evidence of gang involvement in Sheboygan is in illegal drug sales, about half of which are gang-related. "Gangs are nothing more than people who organize themselves to commit crime ... and the majority of the time their No. 1 business is the drug trade," Brasser said, adding that drug dealing and related gang activity has substantially increased in the last three to five years. The amount of cocaine and marijuana seized by the MEG unit increased more than 50 percent from 2005 to 2006, Brasser said, though he added that one or two major seizures could skew the statistic somewhat. Arrests made by the unit are also on the rise, last year totaling 296, up 27 percent from 233 in 2004, Brasser said. As to the gang members themselves, police say local gang members fall into three groups of approximately equal size: younger members in it for the recognition, active members involved in criminal activity on a daily basis and experienced, "hard-core" gang members who instigate conflict and plan the most significant criminal enterprises. And they come from all age groups and cross all racial and socio-economic lines. "A lot of the really what I consider hard-core gang-bangers from Sheboygan are actually from very decent families," said Officer Piotr Gordziej of the unit. "You look at his parents, they're decent middle-class parents, there's money in the house -- how do you end up like that?" The younger members are the most likely to sport the typical signs of gang involvement: graffiti, hand signs, jewelry, tattoos, clothing and colors, but it's the less visible gang members that are the most worrisome, police say. In many cases, the gang members calling the shots are transplants from larger cities who came to Sheboygan and quickly developed a following, Brasser said. "If you have drug affiliations on a regional or national level, that instantly gives you credibility and connections," he said. Gang Problem Grows With Big-City Influence Gang transplants have played a significant role in Sheboygan's gangs progressing from their roots -- a generation of MTV-inspired teens imitating gang colors and mannerisms in the early 1990s -- to a more significant problem, police said. Milwaukee gang members have the strongest presence here, as drug dealers find a willing market here where they can sell drugs for higher prices with lower risk, Brasser said. "They're kind of viewing this as ripe for the picking because ... they can easily intimidate the neighbors and intimidate their customers because of who they are, what they look like and their affiliation," Brasser said. "We're getting the Milwaukee influence here and the Milwaukee problems here and it's increasing on a regular basis." DeCecco said Sheboygan's location makes it a natural stopover on the established Interstate 43 drug-running route between Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay. "We can deal with the number of gangs that are here only because -- and it's fortunate -- they don't have the really violent tendencies that most people associate with urban gangs," he said. "But we are getting people coming through here who are members of known, violent gangs." The problem stretches beyond Milwaukee as well, Olsen said. "People say ... we don't have gangs, they're wannabes. Well, they're not wannabes. Some of them are hardcore gang members from other states, anywhere from California to the Carolinas, Florida, Tennessee," he said. "They're all moving here and then they start up their own gangs or continue with the gang that they had." Examples include Brady Adams, a former Los Angeles resident and member of the Crips who was sentenced to five years in prison in October 2005 for dealing drugs here. Javier A. Ozuna, a former Texas gang member, was sent to prison for three and a half years in November 2005 after police found $15,000 in cocaine at his Sheboygan home and a cache of 24 semi-automatic weapons in a storage locker in the city. Race Not a Factor in Gang Conflicts Sheboygan's 42 gangs are constructed primarily along racial lines -- that number includes nearly 20 Asian gangs, a dozen Latin gangs and several black gangs -- but race-related gang conflict is rare, police say. "The times that we've had fights break out or somebody get beaten up because somebody called somebody a racial name, it wasn't on gang background, it was because that particular person had a problem with that other particular person," Gordziej said. Gordziej described Sheboygan gangs as "equal opportunity," and an 18-year-old who graduated last year from South High School said the members are just on actions more than background. "It's not so much what race you are. It's how you're living," the 18-year-old said. Lt. James Veeser, head of the street crimes unit, said the racial conflicts that do occur typically are between two gangs of the same ethnic group -- those of Latino heritage born in the United States against those born in Mexico and between different Asian groups. This was the case in a brawl in July between as many as 25 Asians at Wilson Town Hall, police said. A 20-year-old Sheboygan man was stabbed during the fight, and Milwaukee police believe the melee led to several shootings later that night in Milwaukee. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake