It may sound stupid to rely on a survey to gauge gang activity in an area. Henderson County did just that, and concluded, “Community leaders, parents, residents and youth service agencies all think gang violence is a problem.” Surveys sent to various community segments constituted an initiative of the Criminal Justice Delinquency Prevention Council in Hendersonville and the UNC-CH School of Government.
Years ago, while writing for a newspaper, I happened to hear a lady say she had, “been ganged.” The police chief at the time said there was no gang activity in Asheville. The lady said her daughter had had problems with kids at school. She tried to intervene and got dragged through the gravel. She had to go to the emergency room to get the gravel out of her eye. Her daughter had a giant scar from the incident, too. Still, there was no official word of gang activity.
Trying to find out from school kids if the lady was being accurate or honest in her report, one ran into punkish kids that wanted to talk tough. It was uncertain whether or not they were lying when they spoke of gangs. Often, their commentaries sounded more like something they may have learned from watching TV. The goody-goodies, of course, would be clueless. On visits to the police station, training materials for gang awareness were present. I was told the training was only because there was a potential for gang activity to come to the area. It was indisputable, however, that small wannabe-gangs, which couldn’t hold a candle to the notoriety of the Bloods and Crips, had been enjoying an established presence in the area for some time. Law enforcement did, however, admit that MS-13 was known to be operating in Henderson County to the south. Regardless, official reporting statistics did and do not track whether or not crimes ranging from vandalism to violence are gang-related.
Today, the article in the Times-News says 12% of the 800 students surveyed said they had been in a gang. Exactly how the students were selected was not mentioned. The survey also indicated that the illicit drugs of choice had migrated through the years from the ever so ungateway pot and coke to methamphetamine and prescription pharmaceuticals. Increased drug use has exceeded the capacity of the local mental healthcare network. Increased parental usage leaves more children to be raised by children.
With apologies for profiling, the article says there is a Hispanic component to the gang activity. Four of the five known gangs in Henderson County are Hispanic or Hispanic-hybrid. Demands placed on “the system” by the Latino community are high, noted the study, “because of the language barrier and issues surrounding documentation.”
Note: Quotes are from the Times-News article, and not the study itself.
