Police, citizens discuss gangs in northwest

Malia Spencer

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003 | 10:57 a.m.

The mood was tense at times at Metro Northwest Area Command during the "First Tuesday" community meeting to discuss gang activity in the area.

About 100 concerned citizens gathered Tuesday night to ask police questions about the recent discovery of a gang called the 311 Boyz in northwest Las Vegas, an area made up of middle- and upper middle-class neighborhoods.

Nine teens who police say were gang members were arrested in connection with the July 18 beatings of Stephen Tanner Hansen, Craig Arnett Lefevre and Joe Gill.

The discussion, which became heated at times, centered on what parents can do, media coverage and whether the group should even be considered a gang.

Sgt. Dave Stansbury of Metro's gang crimes section talked for a 15 minutes about gangs in the Las Vegas area. The definition of a gang, the reasons people join and the activities members engage in were discussed.

Audience members voiced concern that the teens might be unfairly labeled because they do not fall into the traditional gang model. One woman said that she knows a boy being charged and he is not involved in drugs, doesn't come from a bad neighborhood and has no tattoos.

She and others at the meeting said they were frustrated that police could not elaborate on the evidence that led them to classify the teens as a gang.

"A few kids made a really bad mistake," Ashley Miller, a senior at Centennial High School, said. She added that she believes they should not go to jail for that.

"They are not bad kids," she said during the meeting. "They are not a gang."

After the meeting Miller said she thought the teens were being wrongly portrayed in the media.

"I think it's being blown way out of proportion," she said. "The media are one-sided."

She has taken it upon herself to write a story for the Centennial High School paper that she said will tell all sides of the story. She said she has been told by students that reports of what the 311 Boyz have done and who is involved have been wrong.

Metro Sgt. Darrin Densley said that police had been investigating the 311 Boyz for a long time and had spoken to members before all the media attention. It was in those interviews that members told police that 311 Boyz is a gang.

"They're the ones making the claim, not us," Densley said.

Classifying the group as a gang is appropriate, Sheriff Bill Young said. The crimes the teens are accused of are some of the worst he has seen, he added, telling audience members that July 18 beating was not an isolated incident and that he has seen a videotape of other beatings by the 311 Boyz.

"They committed crimes," Young said, adding that the teens on the tape used hammers and wrenches to beat their victims.

Police agreed with an audience member's observation that the activities of the 311 Boyz can serve as a wake-up call to the community, and police told people to report crimes that occur in their neighborhoods and to get to know neighbors.

People need to be aware of their surroundings and parents need to monitor what their children do, police said.

"Just because they come from a better neighborhood doesn't mean they won't commit a crime," Stansbury said.