Chicagoland gangs have infiltrated Porter County.

Their epicenter appears to be South Haven, with incursions north into Duneland and south into Valparaiso.

But—so far—their activity has largely been confined to graffiti tagging.

This summer, Sheriff Dave Lain promises, his officers—in conjunction with the newly created Gang Task Force—will work hard to put the squeeze on the gangs, such as they are, to persuade them of the county’s basic unsuitability as a recruitment ground, and to give them every incentive to go somewhere else to play.

“We don’t want to have a significant gang problem in your neighborhood,” Lain told a large crowd last week at Paul Saylor Elementary School in South Haven. “We want Porter County to be a safe place to live, work, go to school. We don’t want people harassing you to join some club or gang you don’t want to have anything to do with. We’re trying to be very proactive about this.”

The Gang Task Force is headed by Cpl. Jeremy Chavez and Officer Mark Harris of the PCSP, both of whom have received specialized training from the Chicago Police Department.

As Chavez noted, it’s really impossible to say how many gangs are represented in the area, although tags from several People Nation and Folk Nation affiliates have popped up here and there. It’s even harder to say, more to the point, how many local members may be active in those affiliates. Perhaps very few. Under Indiana Code, three people with a common name, sign, or symbol and who engage in or promote criminal activity are enough to constitute a gang.

Nevertheless, however few locals may be involved, tags belonging to such outfits as the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, 4-Corner Hustlers, and Latin Kings have been found spray-painted on various Valpo businesses, the Field of Dreams Park, and the South Haven Unit of the Boys and Girls Club of Porter County, Harris said.

What do parents need to know to protect their children?

A lot.

Chavez noted that in Los Angeles the average age at which a child first meets a gang member is 8.9 years. LA isn’t South Haven but the fundamental point is this: gangs start recruiting young. They also recruit girls. So your child’s youth is no guarantee at all that he or she will successfully avoid contact with a gang.

Parents also need to pay particular attention to things they may not otherwise think twice about: the posters displayed in their kids’ rooms, their doodlings, their dress. A gang member may affect certain color schemes—the Imperial Gangsters’, for example, is pink and black—and may flash certain hand signs. There are plenty of Internet resources to help parents educate themselves, Chavez said.

Chavez suggested too that parents invent a Facebook or MySpace profile for themselves, make a friend request, and check out for themselves what their children have posted on their webpages. One parent did so, he said, and discovered that her son had posted a photo of himself flashing a gang sign.

But kids get involved in gangs for all sorts of reasons—protection, friendship, a troubled home life, low self-esteem, sex, and thrills—so parents really need to address the root problems:

•Communicate with your children. Show an interest in their activities, take pride in their achievements, and praise them.

•Be a positive role model for them.

•Set limits and enforce boundaries.

•Know whom your kids are hanging with. Ask them about their comings and goings. Verify.

•Limit television.

•Get your kids involved in extra-curricular activities. Bored kids are restless kids.

•Place a high value on education.

Meanwhile, Chavez said, the PCSP will be out in force this summer. Both Chavez and Harris will be on plain-clothes foot patrol, while other officers will on bike patrol in areas identified as potential trouble spots.

They’ll continue to work on identifying and mapping the gang presence in Porter County, to which end Chavez specifically asked folks not to paint over or wash off graffiti until an officer has had a chance to photograph it.

Mostly, though, they’ll be concentrating on gang suppression. Gangs like to re-locate to small communities such as South Haven, Chavez said. They find new “customers” there, new opportunities to raise money and acquire power, and they don’t—at least at first—have to worry much about rival gangs or competition. They also rely on a lack of enforcement, a slow-uptake on the part of law enforcement.

That will not be the case in Porter County, Chavez said. The PCSP is getting into the problem on the ground floor and will do its best to shove the gangs along to happier hunting grounds.

“We’ll be out there,” he said.

Posted 6/3/2010