GANG RESPONSE INTERVENTION TEAM (G.R.I.T.)

 

• Has three or more members
• Commits crimes as a primary activity
• Is identified by name, sign or symbol

• Common dress (hats, bandannas, outerwear) or colors of clothing, or common tattoos within a group.
• Graffiti - look for crowns, stars, pitchforks, series of numbers or letters or a combination of numbers and letters, nicknames (it should be noted that gang graffiti differs from tagger graffiti).
• Use of hand signs
• Tattoos - see graffiti above for examples.
• Graffiti-type artwork in school notebooks or on bedroom walls or clothing (see above)
• Referring to peer group as family.
• Hanging out with new friends, or friends who a youth will not bring home, or with friends who will only identify themselves by an unusual nickname.
• Involvement with known or suspected gang members.
• Youth comes home with unexplained bruises.

• Become involved in community organizations and coalitions that promote positive activities for youth
• Be positive role models
• Become educated about gangs, and crime in general, in the community
• Seek and maintain a close relationship with the police officers who patrol your neighborhood
• Become involved in your local Neighborhood Watch, or consider starting one if none exists
• Report graffiti to the police department, and then work together to remove it after it has been documented by police officers
• Become familiar with the Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets.

• Educate yourself on the signs of gang activity
• Maintain an open line of communication with your children
• Be engaged in the lives of your children
• Know who your children's friends are
• Insist on knowing where your children are going and what they are doing
• Pay attention to behavioral changes such as the way they dress, school attendance and performance, and the company they keep 
• Pay attention to music/Web sites/wall posters
• Trust your instincts; if you feel that your child is starting to become involved with gangs, follow-up on it and be curious

• Remove graffiti as soon as possible after you have reported it to the local police, and they indicate that you can remove it
• Report any gang activity to your local police department
• Enforce “No Trespass/Barment” notices
• Consider the use of a surveillance system
• Employ adequate lighting both inside and outside
• As mush as possible, make sure that your business and areas of your business complex are visible to the passing public
• Work together with other nearby businesses to visibly display a sense of ownership and concern over what takes place in the immediate area
• Start and enforce a “no gang colors” policy in your business
• Contact your local police department's Crime Prevention Unit for information on its Business Watch Program. Prince William County Police Department's Crime Prevention Unit has a Certified Crime Prevention Business Program.