FROM THE STREETS TO THE WEB

Police say rising gang presence being driven by social media

Drugs, cash and guns.

Santa Fe Police Department Criminal Intelligence Officer Christopher Abbo said police are seeing more of each on social media lately, posted by local youth “emulating criminal behavior that has been traditionally associated with ‘street gangs.’ ”

Police say they’ve seen a rise in youth gang activity in Santa Fe, and that gangs have taken to a new platform — social media. While principals at local schools say they’re not seeing an uptick in gang behavior at school, students told Generation Next that evidence of gang activity is not hard to find, either within their social circles or on social media.

Miguel Carrillo, a student at Capital High School, said he sees these kinds of postings “almost every day.”

According to George Knox, the executive director of the National Gang Crime Research Center, “a gang is any group of three or more people participating in criminal activity.” Santa Fe police officials told

The New Mexican earlier this year that youth gang activity has changed. Instead of territorial, closely associated groups of old, new groups typically are inspired by social media and pop culture and are not bound by strict affiliation guidelines.

Violence instigated by youth is playing out on the streets of Santa Fe. Abbo said that a shootout at Santa Fe Place mall in June was the result of a dispute between two groups from Española and that police often hear about fistfights between youth that end with weapons drawn.

Abbo said an apparent increase in youth gun violence likely is driven by a number of factors, including social media, easy access to weapons and gang culture.

“There are people who are now inspired by others on social media to start emulating criminal behavior that has been traditionally associated with ‘street gangs,’ ” Abbo said. “We see an increase in persons emulating the same behavior and constantly posting videos and photos of their involvement in such activity and promoting this activity.”

Much of the social media posting, he said, involves traditional “status symbols in gang culture” — like drugs, money and guns.

“They are not only inspired and promoting this type of criminal activity via social media, but are also often communicating and networking with others via social media in order to commit crimes,” Abbo said.

The National Gang Crime Research Center says this activity can infiltrate educational settings.

“The typical or average public school would be expected to have about 37 gang members, on average, with a range from zero to 500 overall,” the center’s “Finding From the K-12 Survey Project” reports.

But Veronica García, superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, said the school district does not have a gang problem.

“I believe that gangs create a negative presence in schools, generally speaking. They disrupt the educational process and can cause fear among some students,” García said. “According to reports that I have received from both district staff as well as our director of safety and security and former deputy of police chief for the city of Santa Fe, we are fortunate in that we do not have a gang issue in the Santa Fe Public Schools.”

The principals at both Capital High School and Santa Fe High School agree. Carl Marano, principal of Santa Fe High, said that he does not notice a gang presence on his campus.

“What I am seeing more is like groups of students who aren’t in an affiliated, like I guess, official gang,” said Mariah Runyan, the principal of Capital High School. “It seems to be like, ‘We’re friends and we’re being disruptive.’ Less about like, ‘I am claiming x, y or z gang.’ A lot of that is just the typical teenager.”

Students have mixed views about how much of a gang presence exists in schools.

Abel Barraza believes Capital High School does not have a gang presence.

“I don’t think they [gangs] really have to do with anything at school,” Barraza said. “I know there are gang members and stuff that go around the state and the city and school, but I haven’t really had any problems with them.”

“I think to most people, it is cool to be in a gang,” he added. “… It’s just popularity.”

But former Santa Fe High School student David Driskle, who graduated in May, said he thinks there are more gang members than people think.

“I didn’t see too much gang activity, but I definitely knew that there was a high gang member population, mostly in the higher grades,” Driskle said. “It’s just a lot of gang stuff that happens outside of school.”

That much of the discussion surrounding gang activity happens on social media means tracking it is different than in the past.

Runyan said social media allows for a new way of looking for students who cause, or will cause, problems.

“There’s more of a footprint now, because you can access what they post,” she said. “And anytime we have ever gotten tips being concerned about a student, it is usually because they posted something on social media.”

On the other hand, it could make it more it difficult to identity those who wish to do harm, police said.

“It may not be as visible as before,” Abbo said. “People will post their activity online and they will no longer do the traditional boasting in the open such as flying [wearing/displaying] certain colors or tagging traditionally associated with street gangs. Doing it online lets them choose who they will show this side to.”

According to a student who wishes to remain anonymous, there is a group message on Facebook that includes, but is not limited to, students from Capital High School and Santa Fe High School, dedicated to the selling and obtaining of illegal drugs.

“The purpose of the group message is basically just an easier way to get weed,” said the student. “It’s just kids who like to do stupid stuff.”

While weapons have been mentioned in the group chat, they do not play an important role, he said.

“There are people who send a picture of their gun or whatever saying, ‘Let me know if you are interested’ … but whether or not someone actually bought it is a question,” the student said. “Sometimes it is actually looked down upon, like there’s people who remove people that are trying to do that.”

Kennedie Vigil, a student at Española Valley High School, believes gang representation in pop culture has led to gangs being normalized. In the teen television drama Riverdale, for example, there are two rival gangs on the south side of town fighting each other, as well as the jocks on the north side of town.

“In movies and shows, they are normalized, but in everyday life it’s not really a good thing,” Vigil said. “I think they are trying to show that it’s not a good thing to have gangs in everyday life.” For the most part, students told Generation Next they are not afraid of gang

violence.

Jacob Stevens, a student at New Mexico School for the Deaf, does not feel threatened by gang violence. “I am not afraid of gang violence, but I have a family that involves some gang violence.”

Athziry Ordonez, a student in The MASTERS Program, agrees. She knows a couple of people involved in gangs but said, “I’m not really scared. I am not afraid.”

Abbo suggested that students and parents who see anything related to this type of activity contact the police.

“If parents are regularly interacting with their kids and knowing what is going on in their life, they can divert them,” he said.

While principals at local schools say they’re not seeing an uptick in gang behavior, students say evidence of gang activity is not hard to find.