Youth gang activity higher in Pinal than Phoenix, Tucson

PHOENIX - Gang participation by Pinal County youths is a little more common compared to the state's most populated counties.

Results from last year's Arizona Youth Survey show eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in Pinal County admitted to belonging to a gang at higher rates than those in Pima and Maricopa counties.

For example, 8.1 percent of high school seniors in Pinal County reported gang membership - that's at least one percentage point greater than rates observed in the metropolitan areas of Tucson and Phoenix.

The bigger cities have gang participation from all age groups, according to Arizona Department of Public Safety Sgt. Raul Vega, but gang affiliation in the Casa Grande region seems to be more prevalent among youth in their late teens and early 20s.

Vega is part of the agency's statewide anti-gang task force and only recently began focusing on the Pinal County area. Unlike in the bigger cities, gang members roam all over the place in this region, sometimes associating with perceived rival gang members.

Vega said it's not unusual to see a Blood and a Crip member sitting in a car together - a scenario not likely to happen in Phoenix.

"Pinal County's kind of its own animal," said DPS Detective Matt Reeves, who also specializes in investigating Pinal County.

Reeves was around 10 years ago when DPS led an anti-gang crackdown in Pinal County that led to the arrests of over 20 suspected gangsters. At the time, authorities described the region as being plagued by an "all-out gang war."

One of the suspects arrested was Brandon Thompson, who was 22 when he was arrested in Casa Grande on multiple drug charges. According to court documents, Thompson sold crack cocaine to a police informant at a Fifth Street residence in October 2007.

Thompson graduated high school and attended college for three years. But court documents describe him as being in a family of alleged gang members.

Strong family ties associated with local gangs is one factor authorities say distinguishes Pinal County's street gangs from others in Arizona. Reeves said this characteristic can make them more disorganized and unstructured since gang membership becomes something "you're born into" rather than recruited.

Friendship and making money were the top two reasons Pinal teens gave for wanting to join a gang. Statewide, friendship had been the most common reason for youth gang membership but the trend has shifted more toward making money over the last four years.

The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission conducts a statewide youth survey every two years to assess the frequency of substance abuse, gang involvement and bullying among Arizona's teenagers.

At least 5,000 Pinal County teenagers participated in the commission's 2016 youth survey, answering whether they'd ever stolen for a gang or had friends involved in gang activities.

More than 20 percent of Pinal's 10th-graders thought it was cool to be in a gang - the second highest rate reported in Arizona behind Yavapai County.

DPS investigators agree that money is a major motivator for local youths wanting to join a gang. In an age when social media websites have become more prevalent, Vega said gang members are using these platforms to advertise what one can earn by working for a street gang.

A 2015 report by the FBI found that the use of social media by gangsters has risen significantly in recent years - allowing gangsters across the country a tool to recruit new members, thwart law enforcement and target rival gangs.

According to Reeves, gang violence has been relatively quiet in Pinal County since DPS conducted its crackdown, nicknamed "Operation Enough is Enough," back in 2007. Drug deals and thefts have continued, but authorities haven't seen the same level of assaults and drive-by shootings that were observed a decade ago.

Suspects arrested back then, like Brandon Thompson, have already been released or may soon be released. Vega said "it's scary" to think some of these players may return to the community, since they're the ones most likely to organize and be active.

Merven Stenson of the Eloy Police Department said his agency is fully aware of incarcerated gang members that will soon be released. Before these offenders went away, he said his city had a violent problem between Bloods and Crips.

Gang activity has decreased since then, mostly because Stenson said that low-key players who weren't arrested moved elsewhere to areas like Arizona City.

He said a known Phoenix gangster was arrested in recent weeks on an outstanding warrant. Like other nearby gangsters, Stenson said the suspect frequented the areas of Eloy and Casa Grande often.

Pinal County has always been a good "transit area" for outside gangs to make stops in, said Vega. Even if local gang activity is quiet, simple geography prevents the area from avoiding the presence of Phoenix and Tucson criminals.