Gang 'wanna-bes' leaving their mark in Shelbyville

Police Chief Austin Swing (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

The strange-looking words have been appearing on the sides of buildings all over Shelbyville over the past few months.

To some, it looks like just harmless vandalism -- but to law enforcement, it's the first stage of a problem that has increasingly plagued other towns and cities in Tennessee over the past few years: The dilemma of gangs.

When asked if Shelbyville has a gang problem, police chief Austin Swing said all he had was a no-win answer.

"If I said, 'We don't have a gang problem here,' that wouldn't be true. On the other hand, if I said that ... the drugs and crimes committed here are caused just by gangs, that wouldn't be true either."

But Swing said there are gang members here in Shelbyville, or more accurately, "gang wanna-bes."

"That's what the graffiti is for -- they're trying to organize," Swing said, and added that the recent upsurge in these vandalism incidents is something he "really is having a problem with."

Gang billboards

The main problem is getting the business or private property owners to quickly cover up the letters or symbols. Swing said it is important that the graffiti be removed as soon as possible.

Some property owners deal with the vandalism swiftly, Swing says, while others are offended if asked to get rid of the painted "tags."

Graffiti like this, seen on the rear of the south side of the public square in Shelbyville, is like a message board for gang members, according to police chief Austin Swing. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

But Swing says that "graffiti is what you put on the seed to make it (gangs) grow. It recruits members, it passes messages ... it's like a big neon sign." The biggest gang problem Shelbyville has now is keeping the graffiti covered up, he said.

"If you can do that ... you won't stop it, but you can certainly slow it down," Swing said. "It's like their message board. It says 'don't come here' or 'we're selling drugs here.' It's their life blood."

Swing added that several years ago, graffiti from La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, began to appear all over Shelbyville. According to the Justice Department, MS-13 is a violent international criminal organization composed primarily of immigrants or descendants of immigrants from El Salvador.

The community and the city did a good job of getting the tags painted over, Swing said, and no more was heard about that gang, if it was actually linked to the group.

However, there has been evidence of the Gangsta Disciples present in Shelbyville, which Swing identified as a gang out of Chicago.

Through transplanted members is one of the ways that gangs can get started in a small community like Shelbyville. Family members may want to get their child away from the gangs in the big city but Swing said "the problem is, the one they ship here was a little guy with a gang in Chicago, but here, he can be a big guy and start up his own gang."

"We know there's evidence of it here and we know there's a lot of kids that want to join 'that club,' which is a bad thing, but to sit here and say that 'we've got organized gangs here' (like the Bloods or Crips) ... that's not the case," Swing said.

Other towns

Gang activity isn't just something that major urban areas have to worry about anymore. In Fayetteville two weeks ago, 21 men and women were arrested on state and federal drug and weapons charges in a 13-month investigation that partially centered around gangs.

In neighboring Murfreesboro, more than 100 gang members have been identified by that city's newly formed Crime Suppression Unit. Murfreesboro members belong to the traditional Blood and Crips of California, along with the Gangsta Disciples, Asian Pride Gang and MS-13.

Federal prosecutors in Nashville have been using RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations laws) to bring the notorious MS-13 gang under control in that city.

And last February, Bedford County Deputy Corey Ewing, who serves as resource officer at Shelbyville Central High School, told parents that "whether you want to admit it or not, there's gang activity in Bedford County."

Eyes open

Ewing said that from 3 to 6 p.m. there's a big majority of latchkey kids that are going to get "with the people they think look cool" and stated that the most important thing parents and school officials can do is keep their eyes open, stay on the kids they suspect may be involved and document any and all gang related incidents.

Swing, Shelbyville Mayor Wallace Cartwright, and school superintendent Ed Gray visited Fayetteville several weeks ago to consult with federal court officials from Knoxville as well as law enforcement and educators from surrounding communities to talk about what kinds of gang activity they may be seeing in their towns.

"You know as well as I do that if it's in Murfreesboro, then it is here or it will be coming here," Swing told the T-G. But in talks with community leaders, the chief said that while Shelbyville has "little wanna-bes", some newcomers have come here due to the lack of gang activity.

"The reason they are here is to get away from it," Swing said. "We'd like to keep it that way, but we're going to have it (gangs) unless we keep this graffiti down."

Swing said that some property owners might think that simply painting over the tags is a waste of time, claiming it would just have to be painted over again, and that may be the case. But if they keep covering it up, the people putting the graffiti there will stop.

"It's been an uphill battle getting that message across," Swing said.

Shelbyville has their share of people selling drugs or committing break-ins, but as far as gang activity is concerned, Swing reiterated that at this point, "we're in just the beginning stages."