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Henry County authorities unite to derail gang activity

South Metro Neighbor - 9/7/2017

School has been in full swing for nearly six weeks and students may have new friends in their social circles and new fashions in their closets.

Parents should be aware, though, that some changes may be red flags for gang activity.

According to the Henry County Police Department, children as young as 9 are enticed to run with a different ? and illegal ? pack.

The dangers range from low grades at school and arrest records haunting them later in life to injury or death from street violence.

The department's website states risk factors for children joining gangs include parents dismissing the possibility.

Detective John Gleason of the department said they would not be alone in their disbelief.

"We do have a gang problem," he said at a recent city of Stockbridge town hall meeting. "We've got a large population of Bloods and Cripps and Gangster Disciples, just like any other metro Atlanta area."

Gleason said the department and the Henry County Sheriff's Office have identified over 200 local gang members.

Their names appear in a Who's Who of suspects in violent crime, theft and drug sale offenses compiled by the sheriff's office's gang suppression unit.

Unit leaders are Sgt. Robert Howell and Deputy Chris Chubb.

"These guys are really good at what they do," Gleason said. "They have their thumb on the pulse of what's going on in the schools and the jails."

Howell said at the town hall that those locales are target-rich environments.

"For some reason our gangs typically identify with youth offenders," he said. "Between the schools and the jail is where we document and see most of our gang activity."

The Henry County school board told him, Howell said, that reports of gang activity are up more than 50 percent over 2016.

He said the county's reinvigorated popularity is driving the uptick as more residents ? law-abiding and otherwise ? move in.

"As you all know, Henry County is in the beginnings of another growth. It's growing rapidly," Howell said.

To keep up with rising gang activity, he said, Sheriff Keith McBrayer turned to a high-tech solution from Atlanta software maker Formulytics.

Its database can help authorities track, identify and keep up with gangs and gang members, Howell said, locally, across the metro area and statewide.

Detectives and deputies upload information into it constantly, he said, for digital analysis.

The agencies' partnership continues when suspects in crimes involving gangs ? defined by Georgia law as three or more criminals working together ? are identified by police.

"They can go obtain the warrants," Howell said. "We can serve the warrants."

Gleason said the collaboration works.

"We can get people in jail that commit these crimes in our community," he said.

If civilians want to help, prevention may be the way.

The sheriff's office website states that reasons for children to join a gang can include gaining protection, status and a substitute family.

Typical recruits often have low esteem and feel unloved at home, according to the police.

Both agencies' sites recommend parents counteract those risk factors with action steps like spending more time with their children.

Information: police, http://bit.ly/2vzvvcX; sheriff, http://bit.ly/2gylmqp