Cpl. Tom Gamble of the Harford County Sheriff?s Office Gang Suppression Unit said he believes knowledge is power.
If he had a goal in mind for the gang prevention and education seminar at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County in Aberdeen Tuesday night, it was to empower parents and community leaders.
He told the story of a mother who allowed him to search her son?s room for evidence of gang activity.
“She swore up and down he wasn?t in a gang,” he said.
“But when I open that door, [graffiti] was written all over his walls. She said he told her it was part of a school art project and he was practicing. ? She had no idea,” Gamble said.
Gamble, along with Detective Scott Yosua of the Harford County Sheriff?s Office Intelligence Unit, walked the audience through numerous aspects of gang activity in Harford County, including “tags,” “stacking” and the significance of clothing and tattoos.
“If you see a guy in Harford County with a red bandanna, unless he is driving a truck in north Harford, he is probably a Blood,” Yosua said.
Though this comment earned some laughter from the audience, Gamble tempered it by adding, “You want to look a little deeper. Look at their school bags. Look at their school books. These are their [gang members?] billboards.”
Pictures of pitchforks, six-point stars, five-point stars, the initials “BK,” for example, are all associated with specific gangs, he said.
Gamble also told parents to be on the watch for what he called “stacking” ? the use of hand gestures, or a form of sign language, that gangs use to communicate.
Being “marked” is a typical requirement of gang membership, Gamble said; common tattoos include “MOB” (Member of Bloods) or “BK” (Blood Killer). Members of the Crips have even been seen with brands that form the shape of a dog paw, he said.
As to “tags” ? graffiti that marks a gang?s territory ? Gamble encouraged the audience not to give gang members the satisfaction of seeing the tag stay in place.
“There is a sign for Swan Meadows next door that has a Crip tag on it,” Gamble said.
He encouraged parents and community leaders to paint over it.
