The AdHoc Group Against Crime hosted its second meeting on gangs last night, which was designed to let the two dozen or so folks in attendance how gangs work.
Gangs in Kansas City are cut up by blocks and the mish-mash sounds like a drawing for PowerBall. There's 43, 33, 39, 51, 12, and when those last two combine, Five Ace Deuce. Who says thugs aren't creative? There's also a lot more neighborhood gangs than that.
Kansas City homicide detective Herb Robinson said most Kansas City gangs are loose, unsophisticated, lack higher leadership and do mostly small beans opportunistic crimes, like carjackings and purse snatchings.
They recruit kids between 12- and 16-years-old with unstable home lives and a desire for money or notoriety.
"A lot of these kids out here, they'd rather not [be in a gang] but they don't have a choice," Robinson said. "In their mind they don't have a choice."
Gangs recruit online through Facebook, MySpace, BlackPlanet, Bebo and MiGente. Robinson urged parents to get nosy.
"When you get nosy I promise your eyes are gonna open," he said.
Robinson added that police can't do their jobs without information from citizens.
"The investigative units of the police department, we desperately need
community support -- you can call it snitching. We need information. We
need to know who's doing what and how so we can address it."
Now, for your viewing pleasure, a brief clip of some dudes beating a
fat kid into their gang, which is one of the initiation rites. Fun
times.
By contrast, girls can opt to be sexed in, Robinson said, and
they'll sometimes roll dice to see how many gang members they have to
perform sex acts with before they earn the right to be called "ho."
No, you're not getting any video of that.
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