Beach forum seeks to keep youths away from gangs

VIRGINIA BEACH

Armani Wadley, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at Kempsville Elementary School, said he's never been approached by a gang member.

But if one ever tries to recruit him, he wants to know what to do, he said. So his grandmother brought him to the "Not In Our Town" forum at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday evening. The event gave information on Virginia Beach's gang problem and what members of the community can do to help solve it.

"If a gang member comes up to me and says, 'Do you want to be in a gang?' I can say, 'No' and know that gangs are bad," Armani said.

One of the event's speakers was one of the gang members who, just a few years ago, might have tried to recruit Armani. Now, the 26-year-old no longer participates in the Bounty Hunter Bloods, but his life as a gang member still haunts him, he told the audience.

"I was out in the street doing gang activities, messing with young men, poisoning their brains," said the Virginia Beach resident, whose name was not given for fear of gang retribution. "It was a mistake."

He left the gang three years ago, but because of his criminal convictions, it's difficult for him to get a well-paying job, he said. He's also been stabbed and shot at by Bounty Hunter Blood members, he said.

Community involvement is key to helping prevent people from joining gangs, speakers said.

"Only with all of us working together can we stem the rising tide of criminal and gang activity," Mayor Will Sessoms said.

"Get involved in your community," Chief Deputy Sheriff Dennis Free said. "And focus your involvement, in my opinion, on our youth. That's where the battle has to be fought."

The event included panel members from the Police Department's Intelligence Unit, the Sheriff's Office, the court system, the FBI, the school system and nonprofit groups. The Aaron Wheeler Group, a local business that provides a variety of community services, organized the forum.

About 150 people attended.

The forum also aimed to dispel myths that there's less gang activity in Virginia Beach than in the rest of Hampton Roads.

"We tend to think that one area is better than another or that one area has more crime than another," said Olymphia Perkins, director of the city's Juvenile Probation Department. "All of our cities have about the same amount of juvenile crime."

In Hampton Roads there are about 430 gangs with more than 6,000 members, said Alex J. Turner, special agent in charge of the Norfolk FBI.

"Do we have a gang problem in our city? Absolutely," said Detective Roger Frederick with the Police Department's Intelligence Unit.

The event fell short of providing a concrete plan for preventing and ending gang activity, said Sam Reid, president of the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations. The council is planning a summit that it hopes will realize that, he said.

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com