By DEGAN JOHN KETTLE
Once dubbed 'America's most livable city' for its low crime rate, Utah Valley is now witnessing exponential growth in gang activity, and concerned citizens now face two important questions: why do gangs exist and how can they be stopped?
'Gangs aren't new,' says Chris Ruiz, a BYU associate clinical professor and a former member of a Los Angeles street gang. 'Violence is not new. We've had it since the beginning of time. Cain killed Abel for selfish reasons.'
Each year gang violence is increasing nationally. FBI murder records from 1990 to 1994 show that in 1990 juvenile gangs were attributed as the cause of 679 murders in the United States. The record shows this number has increased each year, climbing to 1,157 murders in 1994.
Gang activity is increasing in Utah County as well. Information compiled by the Utah County Gang Project shows there are 32 documented gangs in Utah County. In addition, gang-related arrests have risen from 19 in 1994 to 112 in the first three months of 1996.
Although there are no documented gang murders in Utah County, nine drive-by shootings took place between January 1995 and March of this year, the first shootings ever experienced in Utah County, according to the Utah County Gang Project report.
Another gang activity that has risen sharply is graffiti, increasing from 14 incidences in 1993, to 433 between January 1995 and March of this year. That is an increase of 3,233 percent.
People who work with gangs attribute activity in gangs to different things. Ruiz attributed it to the breakdown of families, peer pressure, poverty, a desire for power and an innate tendency to commit violent behavior.
'Gangs are like a family. You get loyalty, love, recognition, and most importantly, you belong, you've made it,' he said.
Ruiz also said gangs are equal opportunity employers, recognizing neither color, creed, gender or religion.
This statement supports the findings of Terri and Paul Weiderhold, BYU psychology students from Spanish Fork who are working on their doctoral thesis on gangs in Utah.
'We are finding that (in Salt Lake City) these kids (gang members) are religious and not necessarily from broken homes,' Terri said.
Terri said many gang statistics indicate gang members are nonreligious, but in a pilot study that she and her husband conducted, 60 percent of the gang members claimed religious affiliation.
When asked why kids join gangs, Kipp Dana, chair of the Utah County Gang Task Force, said a theory called risk focus prevention explained that all deviant behaviors have underlying risk factors.
Information supplied by the Utah County Division of Human Services lists some of these risk factors as availability of drugs, family conflict, early and persistent antisocial behavior and friends who engage in a problem behavior.
'Peer pressure is the greatest thing you are looking at,' said Darrel Piepgrass, director of the Provo Detention Center.
Piepgrass said many youth are threatened by gangs, being told to join or face the consequences.
Two major groups that are fighting gangs locally are the Utah County Gang Task Force and the Utah County Gang Project.
The Gang Task Force, Dana said, is an advisory board to the Gang Project made up of people in law enforcement, the juvenile court system, business, the parent-teacher association, minority representatives, adult probation representatives and elected officials.
The Gang Project is the gang enforcement section of the law enforcement community, whose goal is to prevent, intervene and suppress gang activity, said Patty Long, a community coordinator at the Gang Project.
The Task Force, according to Dana, advises the Gang Project and other groups on ways to coordinate information and resources to suppress and prevent gang activity.
The Task Force is in the process of developing an Internet Web site to aid it in disseminating information about gangs, Dana said.
Other functions of the Gang Project include giving presentations on gangs in community settings, searching gang houses with warrants and running a tattoo removal program for former gang members.
'Gangs will not be solved only by law enforcement,' Ruiz said. 'Gangs are a social illness. It has to be considered, approached, recognized and treated by public officials, educational systems, parents, families and most importantly religious educators