Nampa Gangs (Boise, Meridian, Caldwell: elementary schools, live, garden)

[TreasureValley50]

I'll address a couple things.. First, I agree with whoever it was that said that gang members around here are no different than in California. It's the size of the pond that is different, not the fish itself. Gangsters here do the same things as anywhere-murder, shoot, stab, rob, sell dope, intimidate witnesses, etc.. They just do it in proportion to the community's size. Wave a magic wand and make Nampa a city of 500,000 but with the same crime rates it has now and you'd see the mess I'm talking about.

Next, to the Alaskan transplant who took a hood walk.... Don't let your spidey senses deceive you. While most people who live in the "bad" areas are ok people, dirt-baggery is prevalent in some neighborhoods. Gang members tend to limit their conflicts to other gang members for the most part. I guarantee if you were where I imagine you were-and you were a 20 year old Hispanic male wearing Dickies khakis and a Cowboys jersey-you'd have received a different welcome.

As for the good restaurants in Nampa? They're on the east side. To get there you need to go to the center of town, turn northeast, and drive approximately 15 miles. Wait, that'd put you in Meridian or Boise...

[ALWAYS 2 SIDES]

Yea ok nobody makes sense these days they want to split up gang memebers or put them in prison what does that do? Not a thing putting them in prison just allows them to get schooled on a higher level on thier politics. Spliting them up now that one makes me laugh even harder. Why split them up its just putting them in different locations to recruit more gang memebers and come back stronger.

[Boisean465]

Crime is overhyped, nobody will hurt u unless u mess with them first, ppl usually get killed by family members or friends, I live in downtown Boise and have yet to see any gangs, most ppl steal money or beat there wives ,the biggest one is DUI, the news makes everything sound worse, cause it sales better

[Boisean465]

Originally Posted by ALWAYS 2 SIDES

Yea ok nobody makes sense these days they want to split up gang memebers or put them in prison what does that do? Not a thing putting them in prison just allows them to get schooled on a higher level on thier politics. Spliting them up now that one makes me laugh even harder. Why split them up its just putting them in different locations to recruit more gang memebers and come back stronger.

ur in Idaho.......ppl arint very smart here......

[TreasureValley50]

Originally Posted by ALWAYS 2 SI, DES

Yea ok nobody makes sense these days they want to split up gang memebers or put them in prison what does that do? Not a thing putting them in prison just allows them to get schooled on a higher level on thier politics. Spliting them up now that one makes me laugh even harder. Why split them up its just putting them in different locations to recruit more gang memebers and come back stronger.

I agree that prison tends to be "criminal college" more than anything else, but what's your alternative for a truly violent piece of poop in your community? At least if they're in prison they're not victimizing society through crime. I'll take a well-schooled gangster behind bars any day over an ignorant one still robbing, selling dope, or shooting people on the street. If they get out and go back to crime, at least when they inevitably get caught again they won't be a first time felon-therefore they will go back for a longer sentence. We can't stop gang members from being gang members any more than we can stop thieves from being thieves. The problem will never completely go away, but once prevention and intervention fail the only route left is to incarcerate them.

[TreasureValley50]

Originally Posted by Boisean465

Crime is overhyped, nobody will hurt u unless u mess with them first, ppl usually get killed by family members or friends, I live in downtown Boise and have yet to see any gangs, most ppl steal money or beat there wives ,the biggest one is DUI, the news makes everything sound worse, cause it sales better

The attitude that crime, paricularly gang crime, is "over-hyped" is a large part of why gangs have become the problem they are. "The news" doesn't report half the incidents of gang violence in this area, and that's a fact. You have likely seen gang members numerous times. They don't always look like the stereotype. That, and downtown Boise is not exactly a hotbed of gang activity....

Yes, Idaho is fortunate to have a lower rate of crime than many other areas with simliar populations... But that will not continue to be the case as long as people roll their eyes at criminal gangs or other public safety problems that they wish were issues that were only "really" faced by bigger cities.

I guess I don't get it. There have been several high-profile felony arrests of multiple gang members at a time in the last year or two. There have been multiple arrests for violent crimes, reported by the media, in which the perpetrators have been gang members-whether reported as such or not. Do you need rampant gang violence in downtown Boise before you deem the "hype" to be justified?

[baseball6]

There are few things I want government to do for me. Keep the thugs in jail, and arrest them when they act like thugs. The reason people site the crime rate as going down is because there is more jail space and many are in jail now.....so they are not on the street. Thats what government can do to protect me. If they want "treatment" in the slammer, they can get it.

[ALWAYS 2 SIDES]

Itz nice to know that you would rather have a non educated gang member go to prison to go get educated by theeducated ones that can't get out or have a longer time. Hello! Do you realize by the time they get out of prison the ones that go do their time there will always be younger ones ready to earn their stripes. So guess what that means the older gang memebers won't go back insted they will educate outside of prison to those little ones who have never been touched by the law. No matter what is done there will always be little youngesters ready to ride for their gangs. Just let them fight amoungst themselves like the Ontario Oregon gang.they are pretty much dying off.

[TreasureValley50]

Gangs will always adapt to the tactics law enforcement uses against them. Then law enforcement will adapt and use new tactics. It's not different than working against any other type of crime or criminal in that regard.

I think there should be considerable effort spent on prevention and alternatives to gangs. That's not the police's job though-that's up to familys, schools, neighbors and social workers. Once somebody becomes a police problem though, the police are going to (rightfully so) do everything they can to get them away from society and into a prison cell. That's the way the real world works.

[ALWAYS 2 SIDES]

So then its ok that when the police can't handle the gang members and ship them out to a different county to become somebody else's problem. I personally think they should start a gang reach out while they are in jail or prison, and need to continue it while on parole/probation. People do need to educate about the whole gang issue because the Gangs aren't goin away anytime soon. So like any other thing that never going away educate it like they do in school. Like drugs, sex and smoking.