Budget woes stymie plans to counter growth of gangs

FLORENCE -- The signs of gang activity in South Carolina aren’t as subtle as the pairs of shoes tied together and hung on the utility lines that cross urban streets — a silent way gang members mark their turf.

Rather, it’s as blaring as spray-painted gang graffiti, the bruises that mar state sidewalks, stop signs and buildings, said Bill Byars, director of the state Department of Juvenile Justice.

He and his agency stand on the front lines of the battle to prevent gang activity in the Palmetto State, and have a task much different than that of state law enforcement agencies, Byars said.

“We have a mission of prevention and we have a mission of intervention of kids that get into gangs,” he said. “Law enforcement has the mission of suppression (of gang activity).”

The efforts of DJJ, which Byars considers to be “a quasi-law enforcement” agency, continue to be thwarted by massive state budget cuts that have made gang prevention programs impossible to implement.

The agency has lost 26 percent of its budget in 18 months and has been directed to project an additional 20-percent slash in the coming year.

“Right now, there is no money for gangs,” he said. “I view gangs as a cancer on the state. It’s cancer that needs to be addressed,” Byars said.

Cut in funding have put a stop to the gang prevention programs that were to be initiated by DJJ, an agency that serves many young black males, a population segment that makes up the majority of gangs.

“... What was shocking is that 20 percent of black males self-identify as having some gang activity within the past year,” he said. “Those are South Carolina’s kids. We just can’t walk away from that. That’s our future. We ought to be in there doing something about it.”

Years ago, the state Attorney General’s Office assisted by the State Law Enforcement Division and the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services were commissioned by state legislators to conduct a study on gangs.

“... One thing that was revealed from SLED is that the average age is 15 years and eight months; that puts them right smack in the middle of juvenile justice jurisdiction,” Byars said.

While DJJ has the weighty responsibility of rehabilitating teens caught up in a gang life, SLED acts as an intelligence center, a sort of gang information keeper for the entire state. It doesn’t have the personnel to police the entire state, but aids in the fight against gangs by working with law enforcement in each county.

Florence County Sheriff’s Investigator Jody Lynch is an expert on gangs in the county and works closely with SLED.

Lynch’s position as a State Gangs Task Force investigator is funded by a grant awarded to the sheriff’s department from the state Department of Public Safety for gang prevention. That grant runs out June 30, she said.

“I’m not sure exactly where we’re going to go from that. But we’ve had this grant for about three years,” she said.

Everybody has seen some hard times with some of the budget crunches, but as far as we go I don’t think we’ve notice anything as of yet,” she said of the sheriff’s office.

Tough economic times for the state makes it easier for gangs to recruit, Byars said.

Young people want a sense of belonging and so they turn to gangs, Lynch said.

“There’s something missing at home. It’s not a disciplinary thing. They have discipline in the gang. If they mess up, they get beat up. Plain and simple,” Lynch said. “The want someone to say, ‘I care about you.’

“A lot of single moms are working to earn a living so they aren’t necessarily at home, so the kids are draw to that gang family. The gang pulls them in, an nurtures them and then hands them a gun and tells them to go rob somebody.”

Lynch said she investigates gang activity as a member of law enforcement, but also works to prevent people from joining gangs by giving talks in schools and by educating adults.

DJJ has employees in every county who work with youth who commit crimes and who are affiliated with gangs, Byars said. But he feels the agency should be taking more preventive measures.

DJJ had plans for the Gang Reduction Intervention Program (GRIP), which was supposed to start in July 2008, but that never happened.

“That was when the first cuts came from the state. July that was when the economic tsunami that we’re fighting showed up,” he said. “ ... if you got to cut a budget, the first thing you cut unfortunately is what you haven’t yet put in place.”

Moving forward into 2010, Byars and Lynch maintain that the focus should remain on stamping out gangs.

“This is here, this is now, this is us,” Byars said. “There’s no choice; you got to cut. But the question is, where do you cut?,” he said.

“The gangs are something we need to make higher on the priority list even while realizing that our resources are dwindling.”