Exciting Gang new in Davis!

[nafe.livejournal.com]

This is for everyone who calls Davis home:

About 8:30ish this evening (Thursday), I was walking home and passed Hodgkins Park , and in the play-ground on the corner of Holland and Paulina there were a bunch of kids (early teens) all dressed in red, and red caps, loitering about after having spray-painted "Bloods" all over the jungle-gym slides and whatnot.

I called the police to notify them, but I suspect the kids left before they showed up. So...if we could all keep a watchful eye out on the park, and give a friendly shout out to Somerville's finest if we see this happening, perhaps we can nip a really irritating problem in the bud before it gets any worse.

Comments

[ellf.livejournal.com]

How is a person without anywhere else to go finding a relatively safe place to sleep worth calling the police, or in any related to the gang activity mentioned in this post?

[catbird.livejournal.com]

Here here! I'll second ellf's comment. I don't see a reason to object to people sleeping in public space.

[nafe.livejournal.com]

This post was in no way related to folks sleeping in public space. It's about a really nice community assett potentially turning into gang turf. I apologize for any misunderstanding on this point.

[c-m-i.livejournal.com]

Given the rash of bored kids setting sleeping bums on fire or merely just beating them up over that past few years, sleeping where the wannabees lurk may not be the best of ideas.

[moneypenny.livejournal.com]

Huh?

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

Well, sounds like the people involved *are* children. But yeah, that doesn't mean I'm happy about it -- that's the playground where we go with our toddler...

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I'm tempted to go down there with a can of blue spraypaint and X over all their markings....

[amethystmoon.livejournal.com]

FYI, that's no small-town, easy to nip in the bud, bored kids gang. It's a long-running, nation-wide thing. Stay far away and definitely call the cops if seen anywhere near a group of kids in all blue.

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

How do you know it's not a bored-kids gang that's heard the same thing you have?

[amethystmoon.livejournal.com]

It could very likely be bored kids, and if so, they're probably soon to get their asses beat. I'd personally rather play things safe then assume they're bored kids. Nevermind that it seems generally like a good idea to avoid and report gang-looking activity, regardless of what they're calling themselves. Anyway, this isn't 'ooh, I read on the interwebs that there's a big bad gang', this is I had a friend that the Crips tried to recruit.

[nafe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, was thinking along similar lines. I'm not sure if they're posers or the real deal. Doesn't matter though, really, because even if they are posers, if they're allowed to become entrenched, they'll attract the real deal soon enough.

[sissychrissy1.livejournal.com]

Not good, but fyi, it's not hugely news. There are both kids in the area who identify as Bloods and as Crips, and there have been for a while.

[nafe.livejournal.com]

Do you know if Somerville has any policy or police taskforce whatnot on the issue?

[marylu.livejournal.com]

the police department does have a gang unit, as well as a gang activity hotline. http://www.ci.somerville.ma.us/Section.cfm?org=POLICE&page=264

[frogginit.livejournal.com]

2 police cruisers arrived after kids had left. They found paint cans and candy wrappers.

[nafe.livejournal.com]

Good to know they came. Were you in the area at the time?

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

Worth to mention:

There is some realy neat googleMap-app sites here. one is a crime map. I wish we had one here. check em out.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/essential-resources-for-google-maps.html

ChicagoCrime
“This is a non-profit, freely browsable database of crimes reported in Chicago. It is not affiliated with the Chicago Police Department or with Google Maps. It is not an official source of crime information for the city of Chicago. Rather, it is an alternative view of public record that is available elsewhere. At any given point, this site contains crime-report information spanning a 90-day period. After 90 days, the crime data is removed.”