Sgt. Josh Carey, who has worked in the Security Threat Group at the jail for about five years, said local gangs have grown from one in 2004 to three this year. They are in Noblesville, Westfield and pretty much all of Hamilton County except Arcadia and Atlanta. As a reserve officer in Cicero, however, he has seen evidence of gang activity moving that way. Graffiti spray painted June 19 on several Noblesville businesses was gang related, he said. Symbols included IGD, which stands for Imperial (sometimes Insane) Gangster Disciples, and the number 74 -- G is the seventh letter of the alphabet and D is the fourth. Although local gang activity is evident, Noblesville Police officer and gang expert Michael Haskett, cautions that there's no need to panic and urges parents to use the information constructively. "Everybody shouldn't panic and go jump off a cliff. It's just something you need to be aware of and think about," Haskett said. "The most important thing is for the parents to be involved. They cannot be too involved in their child's life." The spray painting could be the work of One Lov, a local gang that 10 or 12 juveniles started, Carey said. Their criminal activity picked up when they turned 18 years old, and some went to prison. The sheriff's deputy said drugs and firearms are the most common offenses among gang members here, but they also commit burglary. Because Hispanic businesses seemed to be targeted in the spray painting, he thinks One Lov members are morphing into White Supremacists. Two gangs that have been moving here from Indianapolis are MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha 13, and 18th Street, he said. Both are "blood in, blood out" gangs -- a member has to kill or beat up someone to get in the gang, and a member has to be killed or be beaten up to get out, Carey explained. Shutting down MS-13, which started in the 1950s as freedom fighters in El Salvador and now operates in 33 states and in Central America, was declared the top priority for the FBI's criminal enterprise branch last fall, according to Newsweek magazine. The same article called MS-13 the most dangerous gang in America. On July 13, at least 15 inmates at the Hamilton County Jail were confirmed gang members. Three were MS-13, and Carey suspected the jail's gang population would be about 25 if all the members were confirmed. That day, the jail housed 313 inmates. One of the confirmed gang members was a man in his 20s who was charged with burglary and has been trying to get out of MS-13. He "lives day to day looking over his shoulder" on the outside, Carey said. The inmate declined to talk even under anonymity because of death threats. The officer interviews new inmates to try to determine which ones are in gangs. Some talk readily and proudly of their gang activity, others try to hide it. Identifying members can reduce violence and incidents in the jail, and interviewing members can provide law-enforcement officers with intelligence about gangs. "While they're in here, it's (interviewing is) a great tool for getting good information," he said. He has seen gang members as young as 8, but the ones in the juvenile center are mainly 12-13. He doesn't know of any girl gangs operating in Hamilton County, but gangs that don't allow girls as members do allow them to be associates. They are often girlfriends and girls who want to be part of the gang activity. Carey doesn't think gangs are recruiting members in schools, but he said he has little involvement with Hamilton County schools. He wants to start a program in the juvenile center that would focus on educating inmates and, he hopes, prevent kids from joining gangs. Carey works closely with the juvenile center's point man on gangs, Sgt. Rob Gunn, as well as Haskett. "Haskett works the outside, and I work the inside. It works out pretty good," he said, adding that the two meet at least monthly. Haskett will give a presentation on gangs and local gang activity at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 in the Noblesville library. He wants to open parents' eyes on activity that exists. "A lot of parents just flat out refuse to believe it (that gangs operate in Noblesville). The graffiti that we had around town was the first time they'd ever seen anything in person and they just don't understand the culture," he said. Through self-study, Haskett has earned the reputation for being NPD's gang guru. He's also been trained and certified as a gang specialist. Still, he focuses on gang activity only when he has time away from his patrol duties. The department does not have an officer concentrating full time on gangs. "Honestly, I don't think we've seen that level of activity to warrant it," he said. Gang identifiers could be certain types of athletic clothing, certain colors, baseball caps cocked to one side or the other and bandannas worn on their heads. One thing that Carey said often identifies someone as a gang member is a tattoo called praying hands. The hands are flush against each other, point up like a steeple and the fingers aren't interlocked. They're often tattooed on a person's hand, but they aren't limited to any one gang. The significance behind them is "someone's fallen, someone's been killed," he said. Clothing often makes people like Carey or Haskett look a little closer at the person wearing it, but "You cannot look at somebody and say, 'I can tell by the way that they're dressed that they're a gang member.' You can't do it," Haskett said. "It could just be that's the way they like to dress, or it could show gang affiliation." Gang members are starting to wear apparel by sports teams, and gangs are turning company names into their own acronyms. Adidas can stand for All Day I Deal Around Slobs, with Slobs being a putdown term for People's Nations gangs, or it can stand for All Disciples is Dead Ala Says. Reebok can stand for Respect Each and Every Blood OK. Wearing Adidas can mean that the person supports a certain gang, is putting down another gang or "you just like the Adidas brand," Haskett said. How do parents know if their kids are getting involved with gangs? "Knowledge is power," Haskett said. "Why not know what to look for and not need it than to not know what to look for when it's right in front of you?" Kids join gangs for different reasons, he said. The kid with everything joins because he doesn't get support at home. The kid with very little may see joining as an opportunity to make money. Others enjoy the associated criminal activity or they like to fight. Gangs tell kids that they'll always have a place to stay, always have money, always have a good time and there are no rules. "It's very tempting. It sounds too good to be true," Haskett said. "Everybody's perception of a wannabe is a little different," he explained. "To me, I don't see any wannabes. I look at it from the standpoint of if he or she is showing interest or involvement in gang activity, the common thing is a wannabe is a gonnabe." He advises parents to arm themselves with knowledge and parenting skills. "The more involved you are with your kids, the more you know your kids and know how they think, the better you understand where they're coming from. Be a parent, not just a friend, then you'll probably have a better understanding of if they're starting to stray, you'll recognize that they're straying." Red flags might be a child suddenly having to wear everything red or having a certain brand of clothing that they've never wanted before. Symbols drawn on homework or in bedrooms, hanging out with friends that the parents have never met before, being secretive about where they go, or the biggie -- unexplained amounts of cash -- Haskett said, are telling. "When Johnny doesn't have a job and all of a sudden he's coming home with CD (compact disc) players and has cash on hand, where's he getting it from?" Many times, Haskett added, parents spot indications of gang activity right away in other kids but have blinders on when it comes to their own. His advice: "Know your child well enough to know what they're thinking." Ask them if anyone's approached them about being in a gang, he said. If the answer is no, ask them what they would do if someone did. Call staff writer Rosalyn Demaree at (317) 444-5541. | 
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