Myrtle Beach police tell parents in gang forum: We must stand together

Gangs are here. They’re recruiting kids. But gangs can be stopped if the community works together, Myrtle Beach police told parents and adults gathered for a gang awareness forum at the city’s former train depot last week.

The event was held one week after activists pleaded with Myrtle Beach City Council to help them combat the violence that is plaguing today’s youth. Police say some of that violence can be traced to gangs.

“The more knowledge that we can share with each other the better off we’re going to understand and know what the challenges are we face out there everyday,” said Mike Lowder, Myrtle Beach mayor pro-tem, who attended the forum. “We all care and we’re all concerned with what takes place in our city and neighborhoods.”

Nearly 50 people gathered inside the depot to learn the possible signs that parents and adult role models can look for to see if gangs are in an area or if their children are starting to relate.

Lt. Joey Crosby of the Myrtle Beach Police Department told the crowd that a young person wearing blue or red doesn’t necessarily indicate the child is in a gang. But there are other clues parents can watch for, he said, like kids coming into a lot of money, wearing expensive clothing, carrying drugs, hanging out with a different group of friends, using odd language and hand gestures and drawing symbols related to gangs. When the symbols line up, parents need to find help.

“Here’s the thing we want you to know: you’re not alone. You’re not in this fight alone,” he said, adding that police are here to help.

Crosby said kids are often lured into gangs for the support system and for the chance to feel like they belong to a group that has their back.

“We’ve got to give them that support system,” he said. “We’ve got to let these young people know, ‘You know what? I love you for an individual. I love you for a person, but I may not condone your actions.’”

“We have to stay involved. We have to stay in our children’s business, whether they like it or whether they don’t,” said Pfc. Rob Gillians, a father of four with the Myrtle Beach Police Department who said he temporarily lost a child to a gang.

He encouraged the crowd to grab a hold of their children and hold them tight, and if they, as parents, couldn’t reach them to reach out to other trusted adults, like officers, who could.

“Your children’s lives, they are our lives, they’re our future. If we lose them, we lose our future,” Gillians said.

At least four gangs have been documented in the city, including chapters of the Bloods, Crips, Gangster Disciples and the Juggalos.

Bloods, Crosby said, can identify themselves through the color red, letters MOB (Members of Blood), a five-pointed star with a backwards “BLOODS”, three-dot tattoos, a crossed out letter C for their rival, the Crips, or a capital B.

The Crips identify with the color blue, six-pointed stars, pitchforks, a capital C and a crossed out B, for the Bloods.

The Juggalos are an “offspring of the Insane Clown Posse rap group,” Crosby said. “It started out being just a following. They would have some tattoos and some markings and then … a group of them got together, took on this identity with a common cause of creating criminal activity. So now they’ve been identified … as this gang.”

Crosby showed a slide of one their symbols - a crazed man running with a mug of beer.

He said the age of gang members is getting younger as recruiters turn their eyes to children in middle school and more young females also seem to be joining the ranks.

“What can we as a community do? First, was step one tonight. We recognized that we’ve got a problem we’ve got to deal with,” Crosby said. “Number two is become informed about how to handle the situation. What do I do? What are the signs I’m looking for? Number three … if you’ve got information and you put a plan of action in place with that information you know what you have? Transformation. Don’t just have knowledge, have transformation. You’ve got partners by your side. We’re here to help you with that transformation.”

Crosby and Gillians told the crowd that it will take the community coming together as one to combat the violence and existence of gangs.

“Mother Teresa was asked ‘Why do you do what you do?’ And she says, ‘I put my drop in the bucket. I encourage others to put their drop in the bucket because if we put our drops in the bucket together, that bucket will get full faster,’” Crosby told the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen … we are here to put our drop in the bucket. I’m challenging you to put your drop in the bucket with us. Let’s fill that bucket. Let’s solve the problem.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach police tell parents in gang forum: We must stand together."