Blood Gangs In Schools Storie System

Local law enforcement officials say there is a serious gang problem within the Hamilton County School system. And they say it could be a very violent summer if parents don't take responsibility for their kids.

Members of the police and the sheriff's department say we could be in for a very hot summer. They say there's a lot of gang activity at schools like Howard and in just a couple weeks those kids will diffuse throughout the community. And that's why they say everyone needs to act now before it's too late.

"You know the city and the county has always said there's no gangs, there's no gangs, there's not gangs, since 1994 I've seen the gangs, every other police officers has seen the gangs, and people in general have seen them," Sgt. Todd Royval says.

And after 14 years of fighting gang activity Sgt. Todd Royval says the Chattanooga Police Department needs your help to identify young gang members.

This comes after a rash of recent of violence including shootings caught on tape, several assaults at Howard High School, and the murder of graduate Tyrone Stewart.

We offered the school spokesperson and principal at Howard the chance to go on camera but were told both are in meetings all day. We wanted to give them the chance to respond to the allegation that there are 5 affiliations of gangs at Howard.

"You go the kid the teachers will tell them something and the kids will stand up and pretty much say things that I can't say on the news to the teachers and the teachers are terrified of them," Royval says.

But while many fingers point directly at Howard, the Sheriff's department goes as far to say gang members attend every school in the system.

"Cause there is a serious gang problem within the school system and now that school is getting ready to get out that serious gang problem is going to be in the neighborhoods," Royval says.

And that's why Royval and the police department want parents to keep a sharp eye on what their kids wear everyday.

We're told that the Blood gang identifies with the color red, they also wear black, green, yellow, and orange.

"But the green an yellow and orange and black are kind of a disguise color, you'll see somebody in black but if you lift up his shirt he'll have a red belt or a red shirt on underneath it and that's how he's going to associate with is blood gang," Royval says.

One of their rivals, the Crips, associates mainly by wearing blue, with orange, yellow, green, and black.

Then there are the Gangsta Disciples - they wear black and grey with some blue.

And now with only a couple weeks left in the school year, the police department is urging parents to become more involved in their kids lives.

"If we can get the parents to be more involved to teach the kids respect to teach them that when you go to school you're there to learn your not there to socialize, you're not there to play or anything like that you're there to get an education, to learn to read and write, and you respect your elders you respect the people that are trying to teach you," Royval says.

And the police department says if your kid or grandkid insists on wearing the same color every day then you should start asking some serious questions.

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