D.C. anti-gang effort: Call them ‘crews’
By David C. Lipscomb
washingtontimes.com
When is a gang not a gang? When it’s based in the District.
D.C. officials insist on describing groups of young males as “crews,” rather than gangs, even when they are held responsible for violent acts such as the wave of killings in the city last weekend. But police officials in other cities say the distinction is counterproductive.
“The very first step in dealing with gangs is denial,” said Capt. Charles Bloom of the Philadelphia Police Department. “Then you get to the point that you can’t deny it any more.”
D.C. police, lawmakers and community activists say the groups are not gangs because their members are mostly teens who band together for personal protection. That, they say, distinguished them from conventional gangs, which are created for a criminal enterprise such as drug dealing.
Capt. Bloom said Philadelphia quit trying to make such distinctions two years ago. Although they once described such bands as “loose groups,” they now use the term “gang-related” for any group that engages in criminal violence. (more…)
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May 1st, 2008 at 8:32 am
It’s just local terminology that goes way back, as far as I know, to the early 80s. Since it was being used then, it has to go back further.
Given the tactics to go after crews is the same as in gangs, and given that people in the street treat crews as gangs, and given that the D.C. police know the crew situation is serious, it’s just a local term and not a cover up. Like “Mumbo sauce” really being bbq sauce or “pop” in the mid-west being “soda” on the east coast.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
hold on, bruh. mumbo sauce, whatever it is, ain’t just barbecue sauce. i think it’s a combination of ketchup, bbq, and hot sauce.
but as far as the larger issue, while i think the potential is there to ridicule the semantics, i think there’s also something about the term “gang” that seems a lot more menacing, a lot more threatening, and a lot more imminent than “crew.” and besides, i think we all know that if enough brothers are standing around doing nothing in particular, that would constitute a gang in the eyes of some. don’t let em be wearing outfits that resemble each other in some way. i mean, at my man’s bachelor party a couple weeks ago, we could’ve been described as a gang, since we all had on black t-shirts with red writing. f’real-f’real, it was a legitimate concern as we walked to the restaurant and jokers just stopped and stared. only thing that kept the story happy was that no police rolled up on us like we were up to no good.