EDITORIAL: A two-pronged approach to gangs in Cobb County

You've read about them in the news. You've seen their calling cards inked on overpasses, buildings and train cars. You've heard tales of violent initiations, drive-by shootings and drug sales.

In a three-part series beginning today, the MDJ takes a close look at the problem of criminal street gangs in this county.

Because it is a problem. And it's getting worse. Gang activity in Cobb rose from 348 reported incidents in 2015 to 493 in 2016.

Moreover, police estimate Cobb has 129 gangs with more than 1,400 members. Gangs are active in every Cobb high school.

The infestation is not singular to our county. Gang membership is growing nationally and becoming more violent and more organized, according to FBI special agent Jim Hurley.

Some of the names of these criminal enterprises are known and strangely celebrated in the popular music of the day. Others are more obscure. Bloods, Crips, Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples and MS-13, the international gang President Donald Trump referenced in his State of the Union Address, all have a presence in Cobb County.

The U.S. numbers are chilling: 30,000 gangs with 850,000 members, according to the National Gang Center. The most common age people join a gang is 15, according to the center, which says ages 12 to 14 are "a crucial time when youth are exposed to gangs" and consider joining.

To accurately understand the gang situation here, Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds said, requires the abandonment of stereotypes. Any young person in the county can be exposed to a gang and tempted to join one. It makes no difference what part of the county you come from or how wealthy your parents are.

During a recent talk to the Kiwanis Club of Marietta, the DA shared a case in north Cobb that involved two drive-by shootings of a $400,000 home in Kennesaw's prestigious Legacy Park. The home was targeted because the youth who lived there wanted out of a gang. The shooters were from a local high school and had received their marching orders from the Bloods in Los Angeles, Reynolds said.

It may be puzzling to folks unfamiliar with criminal street gangs as to why any young person would join such depravity. One former member of the Bloods street gang, interviewed by MDJ reporter Ross Williams on condition of anonymity, offers a revealing answer. This former gang member said young people often join because they are looking to belong and are missing a father figure in their lives. They join these groups for protection and for money. But while the invitation for protection and comradeship may be enticing, it's a Faustian bargain that exchanges a promising future for one of crime, incarceration or worse. Reynolds says that depending on the community, between 48 to 90 percent of all violent crime is gang-related, ranging from basic assault to murder.

As a rookie DA in 2013, gangs were not high priority for Reynolds. His view quickly changed in 2014 when a Cobb Police officer was shot on Powers Ferry Road by a member of the Ghost Face Gangsters, a white supremacist gang. After that incident, Reynolds brought in two full-time prosecutors to devote their full attention to gang criminality.

Amid the bleakness, there is cause for optimism. Reynolds shared the story of an officer who arrested a suspected gang member charged with crimes in Atlanta and Smyrna. The youth arrogantly boasted he would be out of jail before the officer's shift ended. When the officer drove past the metro Atlanta jail, the youth asked him where he was being taken. He told him Cobb County. Reynolds said the youth became visibly upset because it has become known in gang circles that plea bargaining gang offenses is off the table in Cobb. In the past, prosecutors would agree to dismiss the gang charges if the criminal pleaded guilty to burglary, for example. Reynolds put an end to this practice. If his prosecutors can prove a gang charge, Reynolds refuses to dismiss or negotiate with defense lawyers.

"If we can prove it, either the individual is going to plead guilty or we're going to go to trial," Reynolds said.

Knowing this, the youth wanted to be jailed anywhere but Cobb County.

There can be no carrot approach to laundering criminal street gangs out of our community. The message is clear: commit a crime as part of a gang in Cobb County and enjoy your time behind bars.

At the same time, parents, teachers, coaches, youth pastors and others involved in mentoring our youth have a responsibility to keep young people from falling through the cracks. Cobb Police Chief Mike Register, speaking at a community forum, touted programs such as the Police Athletic League and his department's mentorship program that aim to connect at-risk youths with adults who can point them in the right direction.

The National Gang Center offers these tips for helping your child avoid gang recruitment:

Talk to your child about the negative consequences of gang behaviors and ways to avoid them.

Get to know your child's friends and their parents.

Be aware of their attitudes toward drugs, alcohol and gangs.

Familiarize yourself with the internet, popular slang terms and your child's online activity.

Talk to your child about ways to deal with pressure from friends.

Limit interaction with gang-involved individuals.

Set firm limits with your child.

Plan family time.

Be aware that gangs simmer in Cobb. But take heart that a two-pronged approach of mentoring the young child and aggressively prosecuting the criminal is keeping more kids out of gangs and more gangs off the street.