GANGS IN SHEBOYGAN: COPS GETTING A HANDLE ON PROBLEM

Gangs are on the rise in Sheboygan.

Though the groups are less visible and the members less violent than
their big-city counterparts, Sheboygan gang-bangers are nevertheless
a growing threat that police say now number 1,000 members strong.

"Over the last two years we've seen a very large spike in the gangs
showing up in Sheboygan -- the number of gangs (is) significantly
rising," said Officer Paul Olsen of the Sheboygan Police Department's
Street Crimes Unit. "Hopefully we can get a handle on it and prevent
it from getting worse. However, with our current situation of
resources and where we allocate our time and investigations, it's
hard to say what it's going to be five or 10 years from now."

The unit, which deals with gang activity in the city, has identified
42 gangs in the city, he said. The groups average 20 to 30 members
but range in size from the single-digits to more than 100 members.

And those gang members keep police busy -- members of 26 different
gangs have been arrested since April, when corrections officers
formed a volunteer Gang Enforcement Team to begin tracking gang
arrests more closely, said team leader and founder Craig Stewart, a
county corrections officer.

Gangs, primarily through involvement in the drug trade, account for
half of all crime in the City of Sheboygan, according to the street
crimes unit.

Those crimes are a far cry from those associated with gangs elsewhere
- -- there have been four gang-related shootings here since the start
of 2005 -- but the some officials see the potential for a bigger problem.

"While (Sheboygan gangs) may be involved in illegal activities to
some degree, we haven't seen the type of violent gang behavior that's
been present in a lot of urban areas," said Sheboygan County District
Attorney Joe DeCecco. "Yeah, we have a gang problem in Sheboygan. We
don't want it any worse, and we certainly don't want outside
affiliated gangs upping the ante here for more violence."

Olsen said gang activity increased this summer as an escalation in
the amount of gang graffiti spawned an increase in gang fights as
members retaliated for the tagging but has slowed somewhat in recent
weeks. The unit typically responds to two or three gang-related
disturbances weekly now, compared to the almost daily pace early this summer.

But the big picture is that gangs must be taken seriously, he said.

The unit, formerly the Gang Suppression Unit, served more than 160
search warrants and recovered about 25 guns in the last three years,
the majority of both in gang-related incidents, Olsen said.

"Gang activity currently in Sheboygan is on the upswing, and myself
and my partners would all be cautious of disregarding it or taking it
lightly," Olsen said. "People say, well, this is Sheboygan, it isn't
like Milwaukee or Chicago or LA ... so there's no gang problem. And
they're right; we don't have that right now, but that's why it's
important to stay on top of all this."

Defining the Problem

The definition of a gang varies both legally and in common usage, but
Sheboygan police define it as a group with common identifying
characteristics that engages in cooperative criminal activity.

"There's really no such thing as a gang 'wannabe,'" said Officer Kurt
Zempel of the unit. "If the person is out there committing crimes and
acting consistent with the gang lifestyle, then he's a gang member."

Lt. Kurt Brasser, head of the Sheboygan County Multi-Jurisdictional
Enforcement Group, the county drug unit, said the clearest evidence
of gang involvement in Sheboygan is in illegal drug sales, about half
of which are gang-related.

"Gangs are nothing more than people who organize themselves to commit
crime ... and the majority of the time their No. 1 business is the
drug trade," Brasser said, adding that drug dealing and related gang
activity has substantially increased in the last three to five years.

The amount of cocaine and marijuana seized by the MEG unit increased
more than 50 percent from 2005 to 2006, Brasser said, though he added
that one or two major seizures could skew the statistic somewhat.
Arrests made by the unit are also on the rise, last year totaling
296, up 27 percent from 233 in 2004, Brasser said.

As to the gang members themselves, police say local gang members fall
into three groups of approximately equal size: younger members in it
for the recognition, active members involved in criminal activity on
a daily basis and experienced, "hard-core" gang members who instigate
conflict and plan the most significant criminal enterprises.

And they come from all age groups and cross all racial and
socio-economic lines.

"A lot of the really what I consider hard-core gang-bangers from
Sheboygan are actually from very decent families," said Officer Piotr
Gordziej of the unit. "You look at his parents, they're decent
middle-class parents, there's money in the house -- how do you end up
like that?"

The younger members are the most likely to sport the typical signs of
gang involvement: graffiti, hand signs, jewelry, tattoos, clothing
and colors, but it's the less visible gang members that are the most
worrisome, police say.

In many cases, the gang members calling the shots are transplants
from larger cities who came to Sheboygan and quickly developed a
following, Brasser said.

"If you have drug affiliations on a regional or national level, that
instantly gives you credibility and connections," he said.

Gang Problem Grows With Big-City Influence

Gang transplants have played a significant role in Sheboygan's gangs
progressing from their roots -- a generation of MTV-inspired teens
imitating gang colors and mannerisms in the early 1990s -- to a more
significant problem, police said.

Milwaukee gang members have the strongest presence here, as drug
dealers find a willing market here where they can sell drugs for
higher prices with lower risk, Brasser said.

"They're kind of viewing this as ripe for the picking because ...
they can easily intimidate the neighbors and intimidate their
customers because of who they are, what they look like and their
affiliation," Brasser said. "We're getting the Milwaukee influence
here and the Milwaukee problems here and it's increasing on a regular basis."

DeCecco said Sheboygan's location makes it a natural stopover on the
established Interstate 43 drug-running route between Chicago,
Milwaukee and Green Bay.

"We can deal with the number of gangs that are here only because --
and it's fortunate -- they don't have the really violent tendencies
that most people associate with urban gangs," he said. "But we are
getting people coming through here who are members of known, violent gangs."

The problem stretches beyond Milwaukee as well, Olsen said.

"People say ... we don't have gangs, they're wannabes. Well, they're
not wannabes. Some of them are hardcore gang members from other
states, anywhere from California to the Carolinas, Florida,
Tennessee," he said. "They're all moving here and then they start up
their own gangs or continue with the gang that they had."

Examples include Brady Adams, a former Los Angeles resident and
member of the Crips who was sentenced to five years in prison in
October 2005 for dealing drugs here. Javier A. Ozuna, a former Texas
gang member, was sent to prison for three and a half years in
November 2005 after police found $15,000 in cocaine at his Sheboygan
home and a cache of 24 semi-automatic weapons in a storage locker in the city.

Race Not a Factor in Gang Conflicts

Sheboygan's 42 gangs are constructed primarily along racial lines --
that number includes nearly 20 Asian gangs, a dozen Latin gangs and
several black gangs -- but race-related gang conflict is rare, police say.

"The times that we've had fights break out or somebody get beaten up
because somebody called somebody a racial name, it wasn't on gang
background, it was because that particular person had a problem with
that other particular person," Gordziej said.

Gordziej described Sheboygan gangs as "equal opportunity," and an
18-year-old who graduated last year from South High School said the
members are just on actions more than background.

"It's not so much what race you are. It's how you're living," the
18-year-old said.

Lt. James Veeser, head of the street crimes unit, said the racial
conflicts that do occur typically are between two gangs of the same
ethnic group -- those of Latino heritage born in the United States
against those born in Mexico and between different Asian groups.

This was the case in a brawl in July between as many as 25 Asians at
Wilson Town Hall, police said. A 20-year-old Sheboygan man was
stabbed during the fight, and Milwaukee police believe the melee led
to several shootings later that night in Milwaukee.