Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series about gangs in Hinesville.
To crack down on crime and gang-related activity, the Hinesville Police Department formed the Crime Suppression Unit to help quell these unlawful and dangerous acts.
Following a wave of shootings and murders last year, the HPD created the CSU to disrupt gang activity, and to curb any increase of criminal activity in a given area, Maj. Thomas Cribbs said.
“They act as a force multiplier for units on the street,” he said.
With the ongoing deployment, the CSU has been helping to curb burglaries and thefts at the houses of soldiers who are overseas, Cribbs said.
In the CSU’s first 14 days, they made 67 arrests, Lt. William Oberlander said. Since August, they’ve arrested 187 adults, leading to 407 pending charges and 120 of those are narcotics charges, he said.
“We find that if we can impact on the narcotics, the streets are a little safer,” Oberlander said.
And while investigating the channels of drug distribution in the county, the CSU has linked some of these drug violations to various gang members, he noted.
“The gangs are a very different animal than they were 10 years ago,” Oberlander said.
With the wide availability of cell phones and computers, gangs have become technologically proficient, Oberlander said.
They no longer have to deal on street corners because they can receive a call or an email, and conduct a drug transaction from their living room, which has made narcotic activity more covert, he said.
And with new laws in place, stricter sentences can be imposed on criminals who are gang members, Cribbs said.
“The gangs have weak leadership ...they’re not very sophisticated or territorial, and they also lack loyalty ... Unfortunately though, there are a lot of them in the area,” Oberlander said.
Besides criminals who share affiliation with the Bloods and Crips, there is the Dog Pound Gang of Riceboro (also known as the DPG), the Head Hunters in Midway and Riceboro, the Mill Creek Boys, and there are several factions at the Eagle’s Landing subdivision the HPD has had many problems with in the past, Cribbs and Oberlander said.
“The summer just started, our kids are out of school, and we don't know what problems that’s going to bring, so we're just saturating the area with (the CSU)," Cribbs said.
Besides narcotics, these gangs are responsible for murders, thefts, car chopping and burglaries, Det. James Snider said.
Recently, two 12-year-olds and a 14-year-old broke into an elderly woman’s house, assaulted her and robbed her at gunpoint, he said, noting they wore bandanas over their faces, and each had what appeared to be gang markings on their forearms.
Snider and the HPD contend the crime served as an initiation into a gang.
Since then, the perpetrators have been arrested and are awaiting trial, Snider said.
Despite the arrests and the concentrated effort by the HPD, criminal activity remains a problem in the area, and Cribbs and Oberlander are waiting for more concrete statistical information to gauge their progress since the CSU’s inception last year.
To crack down on crime and gang-related activity, the Hinesville Police Department formed the Crime Suppression Unit to help quell these unlawful and dangerous acts.
Following a wave of shootings and murders last year, the HPD created the CSU to disrupt gang activity, and to curb any increase of criminal activity in a given area, Maj. Thomas Cribbs said.
“They act as a force multiplier for units on the street,” he said.
With the ongoing deployment, the CSU has been helping to curb burglaries and thefts at the houses of soldiers who are overseas, Cribbs said.
In the CSU’s first 14 days, they made 67 arrests, Lt. William Oberlander said. Since August, they’ve arrested 187 adults, leading to 407 pending charges and 120 of those are narcotics charges, he said.
“We find that if we can impact on the narcotics, the streets are a little safer,” Oberlander said.
And while investigating the channels of drug distribution in the county, the CSU has linked some of these drug violations to various gang members, he noted.
“The gangs are a very different animal than they were 10 years ago,” Oberlander said.
With the wide availability of cell phones and computers, gangs have become technologically proficient, Oberlander said.
They no longer have to deal on street corners because they can receive a call or an email, and conduct a drug transaction from their living room, which has made narcotic activity more covert, he said.
And with new laws in place, stricter sentences can be imposed on criminals who are gang members, Cribbs said.
“The gangs have weak leadership ...they’re not very sophisticated or territorial, and they also lack loyalty ... Unfortunately though, there are a lot of them in the area,” Oberlander said.
Besides criminals who share affiliation with the Bloods and Crips, there is the Dog Pound Gang of Riceboro (also known as the DPG), the Head Hunters in Midway and Riceboro, the Mill Creek Boys, and there are several factions at the Eagle’s Landing subdivision the HPD has had many problems with in the past, Cribbs and Oberlander said.
“The summer just started, our kids are out of school, and we don't know what problems that’s going to bring, so we're just saturating the area with (the CSU)," Cribbs said.
Besides narcotics, these gangs are responsible for murders, thefts, car chopping and burglaries, Det. James Snider said.
Recently, two 12-year-olds and a 14-year-old broke into an elderly woman’s house, assaulted her and robbed her at gunpoint, he said, noting they wore bandanas over their faces, and each had what appeared to be gang markings on their forearms.
Snider and the HPD contend the crime served as an initiation into a gang.
Since then, the perpetrators have been arrested and are awaiting trial, Snider said.
Despite the arrests and the concentrated effort by the HPD, criminal activity remains a problem in the area, and Cribbs and Oberlander are waiting for more concrete statistical information to gauge their progress since the CSU’s inception last year.