Gangs recruit fourth graders

Turf wars at the tunnel – Sureños (X4 or 14 for ‘M’ - Mexican Mafia - in red) tag over Norteños (X3 or 13 for ‘N’). It’s all about respect (fear) as gangs lower the recruiting age to elementary school.

IT’S HAPPENING. At-risk children in our elementary schools are subject to recruitment by gang members. Parents, teachers and community members should be aware that even fourth graders can be tempted to mimic the pseudo-glamorous “gangsta” look (one of the criteria used to validate gang members) and even be persuaded to take the path toward crime.

Sergeant Tom Davis and officer Ron Cordova of the Woodland Police Department, Gang Violence Suppression Unit, both agree that gang awareness should start earlier than middle school or junior high – and that the community, as a whole, needs to understand the reality of gang activity.

“We want people to know,” stated Davis, stressing the fact that awareness is critical to his job of suppressing gang activity.

Cordova added that the issue should not be sugarcoated. For example, people should know that gang recruitment includes “Jumping In” or “Getting Jumped” – getting physically beat up. Typically a jump might last 13 seconds for Sureños (for the thirteenth letter of the alphabet, “M,” for Mexican Mafia) and 14 seconds for Norteños (for the fourteenth letter, “N”).

WPD CONFIRMS VALIDATED GANG MEMBER POPULATION

During a July 22 interview with the Woodland Record, Sgt. Davis noted that there were – on that date – 413 Norteño, 282 Sureño and 29 other validated gangsters lurking around Woodland. The 724 total confirms last month’s report that there are over 700 validated gangsters in town. On July 2, Sergeant Dale Johnson of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, Gang Task Force specified that there were 704 validated gang members, indicating a slight rise in the population during July.

Source:
Gangs recruit fourth graders
woodlandrecord.com