Kevin Kerr
The Duncan Banner
DUNCAN —
It’s no secret that gang activity exists in Stephens County. Sheriff Wayne McKinney openly acknowledged that gang activity happens in all areas of Stephens County as a result of pressure put on gangs in the Lawton area. But while McKinney says activity is in the county, Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford said there is little to no gang threat in Duncan, but that there is some gang presence.
“When Lawton started putting pressure on their gangs, they started moving to smaller cities like Altus and Duncan, and when we applied pressure to them, they started moving out into the Comanches and the Marlows, then out into the rural areas after that,” Ford said.
Ford said several years ago, gang activity was present in Duncan. Even up until last year, minor gang activity was noted. But Ford said the constant pressure they’ve applied to gang life in Duncan has been a defining factor at keeping activity down to almost non-existent.
“The only thing we really have here now is the wannabes,” Ford said. “Television draws their attention, and they see the money they flash, the cars they drive and they want to imitate it.”
Much of the wannabe crowd that Ford referred to is a younger group of people that are easily influenced by what they see. That’s why Ford said it is imperative that the schools continue to do what they do to keep gang-like activity out.
“The schools do a good job with that,” Ford said. “And we try to educate them early that it’s not something they want to be a part of.”
Ford said that the Duncan gang task force leader, Det. John Byers, does much of the educating in the schools when they ask for someone to come and speak. Byers has been the leader of the task force for several years now, and said while it may appear that gang activity is almost nonexistent in Duncan, there is still a presence.
He echoed what Ford said about acting quick in getting rid of a gang presence when it appears, saying that they have sent several known gang members to prison.
“Most of what we have here stems from gangs in Lawton,” Byers said. “We do have some that are local, but they aren’t near as active and aren’t out committing some of the major offenses. We might have some assaults, but nothing like what Lawton has.”
In fact, Byers said much of the gang related activity is drug-oriented in Duncan, with only one act of violence or death that he could recall.
“There was a homicide, a man shot in Douglas Park a few years back,” Byers said. “That was a Lawton gang member who came from Lawton, but he’s now incarcerated.”
Some of the offenses Byers said are known to happen are “tagging,” or spray painting their gang’s logos around town, property damage, fighting and the occasional scuffle between opposing gangs.
“They’re not out there committing burglary after burglary and we don’t have any intel that they’re selling any large amounts of narcotics and no drive-by (shootings) either,” Byers said. “Nothing like it was in (20)08 or ‘09.”
Part of what Byers said DPD officers do to control the gang population in Duncan is keep an eye out for any gang graffiti, or “tags” within the city.
“We try and stay on top of anything that might be gang related,” Byers said. “Our street officers keep an eye on graffiti out there and we try to document it all then paint over it.”
Byers said a gang known to have presence in Duncan is the 107 Hoovers from Lawton, who mostly come over for narcotics distribution.
“There’s a lot of selling in Lawton, and we’re just 30 minutes away, so they’ll come here to sell,” Byers said. “When the DA’s office did a big drug roundup a while back, that affected that a lot.”
As well as the Hoovers, Byers said there are other gangs present in the community: The Crips; some Crip Loc (younger, juvenile version of the Crips) which Byers said is not a true set of the Crips but more of a hybrid gang; and BPM, which stands for Brown Pride Mexicans. He said none of these gangs have any substantial numbers in Duncan. He also said there were some outlaw biker gangs in the area as well, but the department has never really had any issues with them other than the occasional traffic violation.
Byers said there isn’t a large threat for gang activity in Duncan, but that it still happens and officers are doing what they can to identify it and get rid of it.
“We’re being proactive about taking the first steps in documenting it and catching them,” Byers said.
— Kevin Kerr is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354 Ext. 147 or by e-mail at kevin.kerr@duncanbanner.com.
