Police Educating Parents About Gangs 1/10/2008

Parents of high school and middle school students can get a crash course on gangs Wednesday evening, Feb. 6, at Holly Springs Town Hall.

Holly Springs police and the gang unit from the Wake County Sheriff's Department will give a presentation at 7 p.m. in the Town Council chambers. Law enforcement officers will address questions such as:

• What are gangs?
• Why do kids join gangs?
• How is the Internet site myspace.com used to recruit kids into gangs?
• What should parents look for in determining a child's involvement with a gang?

Chief John Herring said Holly Springs police want to be proactive and deter gangs from becoming entrenched in the community. As with drugs, he said, no town is immune from gangs.

Police have identified individuals living in or frequenting Holly Springs who associate with gang members, Herring said.

Citizens who know what to look for can help police assess the extent of the problem in a community.

"One of the most important things is for parents and people in the community to educate themselves about gangs so they know what they're looking at, how they operate," Herring said.

Herring has spoken about gang prevention at Chamber of Commerce forums on youth issues. The Feb. 6 presentation at Town Hall will be the first one geared toward parents. Holly Springs police hope to hold similar presentations in the future.

Police want to make Holly Springs inhospitable to gangs, Herring said, noting that gangs often research a Police Department to determine how successfully they could "fly under the radar."

"They're going to set up shop where there is the least resistance," he said, "not just from the Police Department, but the community."

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Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us