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FeedGanging Up
As an unprecedented number of kids move here or grow into middle- and high-school age, police say gangs are a greater threat than ever before.
By Melissa Hankins
Photographs by Chris Edwards
Melissa Hankins
(page 1 of 4)
It's designed as a family-friendly affair, a fiesta devoid of alcohol. Small children toddle about excitedly, sweating in their diapers as the temperature spikes to 95 degrees. The noise is loud and grating. Several musicians perform energetically from stages set too close to each other. A couple of speakers spew static.
By 6 p.m., piles of paper plates and balled-up napkins cover the ground like carpet. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Detective Steve Parker kicks at the trash as he strides from one end of the festival to the other. Parker is a temporary member of CMPD's fledgling gang unit, an officer on loan from the Metro Division. He's at the Carnaval because, he says, so are "hundreds of bangers. We're here to gather intelligence." Bangers are active gang members. CMPD officers often spit out the term.
Parker squints as he scans the crowd. The day is waning, but the sun is still strong. "We're looking for certain clothes, certain tattoos," he says. "The gang unit is built out of criminal intelligence. We track information and put it in a computer system. Gang members are very fluid. Everything changes. By doing operations like this we can see what groups are affiliated with what tags at the moment. For example, we'll know if they've changed colors."
The unit was also there, Parker says, to maintain order. Despite the event's billing as a celebration of Latino heritage, CMPD Major Eddie Levins, former head of the gang unit, says "it's violent. Last year, people got stabbed. And they might not serve beer there, but people come in drunk off their feet."
The event is also, Levins says, traditionally flush with bangers, who show up to show off. Steele Creek Division Officer Steve Worley, another temporary member of the gang unit, says social events can be particularly dangerous. "When bangers have all their women around," Worley says, "not only do they have to impress their brothers, but they have to prove their machismo, too."
Adds Parker, "It doesn't matter to these guys that there are tons of little kids around. No matter where you go in Charlotte—events like this, the mall—you'll find a mix of bangers and kids. They don't give it a second thought." In fact, many of the bangers are kids.
"Like, look at those guys," Parker says, pointing to about thirty people knitted together amid the pulsing Carnaval crowd. The majority appear to be teenaged girls and boys. Parker gestures to the three strollers within arm's length around them. The males, their faces freckled with tattoos, are dressed in immense, low-riding jeans. Long fabric belts hang limply from their waists. Blue bandannas peek out of their pockets.
At this moment, Parker is the only police officer around. Forty-five regular CMPD patrol officers are on duty, along with the gang unit. But there are no blue uniforms in sight—Parker's crew is outside the Carnaval's gates, huddled around their unmarked white van with gang suspects they'd dragged out earlier. Parker is wearing black clothes, but his badge is visible, and so is his gun. As Parker eyes the group, they eye him back. Speaking into his radio headset, Parker says, "I've got a crew. Blue flags. Tatts."
The group edges closer to the officer, and several "mad dog" Parker, which, he explains, means that they look at him with an exaggerated aggression. Which, he explains, is enough reason for CMPD officers to search for identification and weapons. It is not, by the way, illegal to belong to a gang in the U.S., though some states are considering legislation that would change that (in fact, Levins has recently been traveling "almost daily," he says, to Raleigh, lobbying for stricter gang-related rules and sentencing). Some gang members are also illegal immigrants, Parker says, and officers use that as a tool for arresting them. "This could be a big catch if we can get somebody out here," Parker says, an edge creeping into his voice. He sighs and swipes at his handlebar mustache with the back of his hand. Into his radio: "We've got a crew ripe for the picking."
A pause. "The other officers are tied up with arrests."
Five more young men join the group as it inches closer to Parker. Into his radio: "Hey, am I going to get any help out here? I need f---ing people out here!"
Gangs are a growing problem in Charlotte, but hardly one exclusive to Latinos, or any other ethnicity. The gang problem is rooted in the city's rapidly expanding youth population. There are more kids living in Charlotte than ever before (there were 36,420 high school students and 29,207 middle school students enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools last year), and more of them are getting into trouble. According to police, the number of juveniles arrested for burglary increased 30.8 percent from January to April this year over the same period in 2006. The number of young people stealing cars jumped 50 percent.
