4/24/08
It is still a problem … gang activity grows in Clarendon County
By Jerriod Grizzle

JERRIOD GRIZZLE/Manning Times

“Tags” showing where gangs mark their territory are found all around Manning and Clarendon County. Thankfully, the Manning Police Department along with neighboring stores are hoping to curtail this graffiti by marking it out with white wash. According to officers if suspects are caught tagging buildings they will be made to clean it up.

The words gangs and gang violence come up evermore increasingly these days. Go to any meeting on alcohol education or a political rally and gangs are cited as a major concern. But how do you stop it? Why is it spreading and what exactly is it?

By definition, a gang is a group of adolescents who band together, especially a group of delinquents.

There is a saying that whatever happens in Sumter County will happen in Clarendon County within 5 to 10 years. When the issue is gangs and gang violence, Manning Police Chief Randy Garrett said that might not be so far off.

“People say it’s not happening here but it is,” said Garrett.

Garrett recalled an incident where a man was almost killed at a local apartment complex while going to see his girlfriend.

“Apparently the gang that was in that apartment complex told him to stay out and he didn’t,” Garrett said.

When the victim identified the man who had attacked him, Garrett couldn’t believe his ears.

“It was a kid that I watched grow up. I knew his family. He had a good job and was in church every Sunday,” he said. “If you would have told me he was in a gang, I would have told you that you were wrong.”

When Garrett and other officers went to arrest the alleged attacker, Garrett said he asked the man why he did it.

“He told me that the person was on his ‘turf,’” Garrett said. “They are fighting over turf they don’t actually own.”

Garrett said he knows gang-related violence is in Manning but for the average citizen there is not a big problem.

“They keep it hidden but we have stepped up our patrols and we keep tabs on it. We identify as many people as possible but they aren’t really going to tell us flat out,” he said. “If we see someone wearing one color every day it is a red flag and I go in and make notations. We stop and talk to them; we want them to know we know who they are and that we are looking at them.”

Garrett said that he has seen the writing on the wall, literally, but for now, gangs tend to fight between themselves and rivals.

Sgt. Allan Lee, a gang specialist, said there are reasons that gangs are popping up around Manning and Clarendon County.

“Usually they move to places that are secluded and don’t have a lot of people. People join because they may have a bad family situation or may want protection and gangs are there to offer it,” he said. “They are a growing threat anywhere and they are increasingly spreading to small communities.”

Other reasons kids join gangs according to Lee include money, identification, discipline and recognition.

Generally the age group for gang members joining is 6 to 22 years old.

Lee said one place that he sees it the most is in the schools.

“The teachers deal with these kids everyday and they know. That is where we get our information from,” he said. “It goes across all ethnic boundaries and most parents don’t know who’s out there or what their children are doing.”

Chief Deputy Joe Bradham with the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Department said that the problem with gangs is not just with the city of Manning but he has seen it in the county too.

“I don’t think we have ‘wannabes’ anymore, we have actual members but the biggest bulk are people associated with a number of small local groups,” said Bradham.

Bradham said the problem with gangs is spreading from up north to here in the county in degrees.

“I wouldn’t say we have an outbreak but we do have our problems in the county,” he said. “We are so close to other counties and we are affected by them and what we are seeing are gang members trying to recruit people out of Olanta and that direction. Most of the people that join gangs get the chance because they have family and friends in bigger cities and their family and friends bring that lifestyle down here,”

“There is not a simple answer to stopping it but kids need more of a family atmosphere and if mothers and fathers would step up it would help kids not feel as if they have to turn to gangs for protection and for a home,” he said.

Bradham said that the state of South Carolina is updating software to help keep track of known criminals in gangs and a number of laws are being passed to increase the penalty for gang-related activity.

Director of the Clarendon County Detention Center Sheldon Hughes said that he has seen gang signs and admitted that members of gangs are in his jail but said that their behavior stops at the door.

“We simply don’t tolerate it,” he said. “When we give our introduction to new prisoners we go over with them that they are not allowed to flash gang signs or let it be known they are in a gang or there will be consequences.”

Hughes said part of those consequences is losing privileges.

“If they do something out of line we take away things such as watching television, letters, visitation or commissary rights,” he said.

For Hughes, there is no difference between a “wannabe” and a known gang member.

“This is my definition. They are no less of a threat; they have the capability to commit a criminal act. They are pursuing that lifestyle and they are going to do things that a known gang member would do with a knife, a baseball bat or a gun,” he said. “They can fire a gun like anyone else.”

Lee said the best advice he can give parents to keep their kids out of gangs is to know their children.

“Accept that your child could be in a gang; know your child’s friends and don’t just allow your kids to hang out. Know where they are and what they are doing,” he said.