STUART — Even though Martin County detective Sgt. Bill McCaw grew up on the South Side of Chicago and lived amid gang violence, he didn’t have the slightest clue it existed when he was a child.

Few people did.

Heading the gang intelligence unit, the 20-year Martin County Sheriff’s Office veteran spoke to residents Wednesday evening to try to make sure that gang growth doesn’t go similarly undetected in Martin County.

The event at the Martin County Administration Building sponsored by Project Northland occurred two days after 16-year-old Torenda Youngblood Jr. was shot and killed at his Fort Pierce bus stop, the most recent of four shootings since Saturday.

At least two were “directly related to gang violence,” said Fort Pierce Chief of Police Sean Baldwin.

McCaw sees gang violence as a problem that continues to seep into the county.

“Now you look at Palm Beach County, and by their own admission, they certainly have some issues they need to address,” McCaw said. “And guess what? We’re the next county. This stuff certainly seems to be moving out of Miami, and we’re next on the ladder.”

McCaw estimated about 30 gangs exist within Martin County. Some include MS-13, Insane Gangster Disciples, Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings and Jensen Beach Clique.

A slideshow showed images of local gang graffiti and area youth throwing gang signs. In a team picture, two Jensen Beach High School basketball players flashed signs McCaw identified as gang-related. Graffiti spread across a Murray Middle School in Stuart wall included “murk,” which means murder, McCaw said.

Interest in gangs isn’t limited to a certain age or a certain gender, and it’s getting more widespread, McCaw said.

Jean Reimann of Hobe Sound, who works at Spectrum High School in Stuart, said a group picture at a sleepover of 3- to 12-year-old girls showed them flashing gang symbols.

“They didn’t know what they were doing,” she said. “The parents didn’t know either. The lack of awareness is a critical issue.”

McCaw called for parents and teachers to familiarize themselves with the signs, colors and graffiti. He then urged them never to assume the telltale signs are simply done while joking around, and to confront the child as early as possible.

Contact gangunit@sheriff.martin.fl.us if you have information regarding local gangs.

Florida Community Alliance

What: Program to help ease youth away from gang life.

Contact: (561) 909-7011

P.O. Box 297

Indiantown, Fla. 34956

Flcomallianc@aol.com

By Jonathan Mattise, TCPalm.com

Tags: beach, chief, child, critical, Florida, gangs, girl, Indiantown, informant, Miami, murder, murders, police, Schools, sheriff, shooting, shot, Stuart, teacher, teachers

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 9:33 am and is filed under Crime, Fort Pierce, Hobe Sound, Martin County, Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.