Forum.RttP{sXe = gang}

Reno police classify Straight Edge as a gang

Jaclyn O'Malley
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
5/30/2005 09:58 pm

You wouldn’t expect a splinter faction of teens that rejects alcohol, tobacco, drugs or promiscuous sex to be an active criminal street gang, but in Washoe County that’s exactly what’s happening, authorities say.

In March — following a six-month investigation — Straight Edge was officially classified a gang by the Regional Gang Unit. Nearly every week, gang officers investigate Straight Edge crimes or harassment that doesn’t seem to subside following arrests.

Authorities describe Straight Edge attacks as random, opportunistic, violent beatings that can be spurred by minor comments from nonmembers. Members — who sometimes use bats, shovels, knives, brass knuckles and Mace — don’t engage in violence unless they can outnumber their targets, police said.

Straight Edgers tend to attack other teens who are publicly engaging in activities Straight Edgers don’t agree with, such as smoking or drinking.

“It’s ironic and disappointing that otherwise good kids are committing crimes to promote their own personal philosophy,” said Lt. Doug Cardwell of the gang unit. “We’ve had more crime attributed to Straight Edge than any criminal street gang this year.”

Police acknowledge that not every student claiming to lead the Straight Edge lifestyle engages in criminal activity. About 20 boys and young men so far have been identified as violent Straight Edge members, authorities said.

Efforts to interview Straight Edge students or parents through phone calls were unsuccessful. Those who were contacted didn’t want to talk for this article because they feared retaliation.

Edgers not involved in criminal activity — whose exact numbers here are unknown — are not considered gangsters, police said. Some teens who believe in the philosophy also have branched off into their own groups and go by different names. Punk rock music initially is what bonds Edgers.

Parents, gang unit officers said, need to be the first point of defense in stopping this violence.

“We hope parents take the time to ask their kids the right questions and make these kids realize how easy life can change with one swing of a bat — they could be facing murder charges,” Sgt. Rick Bjelke said. “Good kids will be spending their life in prison for what? Someone was smoking or drinking?”

Several Straight Edgers in Washoe County are being prosecuted in juvenile court for separate incidents this year, including random beatings and intimidation of non-Straight Edge students and property destruction.

Gang members who are prosecuted for gang-related crimes face sentencing enhancements, which automatically double their punishments. Most are also court-ordered not to associate with other members.

Zero Tolerance

School officials and police say Straight Edge students are enrolled in all district high schools. But most of the violent Edgers attend or have graduated from Reed High School.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy to gang activity on or around campus,” said George Hardaway, Reed’s vice principal of discipline. “Those leaders or members of groups who polarize themselves, label and categorize themselves are individuals we notice. They stick out like a sore thumb.”

School officials took note of some Straight Edge members’ escalating violence and, earlier this school year, held group and parental meetings as well as anger-management classes, Hardaway said.

He said parents of Edgers who are involved in gang activity at school have argued their children have been unfairly punished for school incidents.

“But we don’t profile and we treat everyone the same,” he said. “It’s a battle.”

Washoe County School District police said most Straight Edge incidents have been off school grounds.

“It doesn’t make sense to promote having great values by enforcing it with violence,” said Lt. Dale Richardson of the school district police. “If students are harassed, they need to report it to us so we can take care of it. We want a safe learning environment.”

A movement

Utah law enforcement classified Straight Edge as a gang several years ago, following members’ involvement in a 15-year-old’s death and beatings similar to those that have been seen in Washoe County.

Detective Lex Bell of the Salt Lake Area Gang Project in Utah thinks Straight Edge is popular there because of the strong Latter-day Saints’ influence, which mirrors the group’s core beliefs.

“When these kids are raised with these beliefs and they get to high school, they are exposed to more people and cultures and some get dogged for being LDS,” Bell said. “They can grab onto something like Straight Edge that they think is cool and still represents their beliefs.”

Around the country, Straight Edge is typically associated with a positive image of clean living and punk rock music.

Bell said his experience is that Straight Edgers don’t consider themselves a gang. He said they pride themselves on being part of a worldwide movement with no official leader.

What is Straight Edge?

In a 1983 interview with the Washington Post, punk rocker Ian MacKaye discussed his song “Straight Edge” which described the philosophy of punks against drugs and alcohol. MacKaye, then 21, was the lead singer for the band Minor Threat.

In the article, he discussed his fascination with nonviolent gangs and his disapproval of people choosing to “mess up their lives.” His influence is reportedly how the Straight Edge doctrine of clean living took off across the world.

Gang officers said many Edgers attend local venues for concerts. Some display “X” and “Poison and Drug Free” tattoos on their bodies and wear dark clothes and bandannas.

Gang officer Cardwell said most of the violent Straight Edgers here grew up together and remained friends in high school. No one member appears to lead the group.

What separates the mostly white Straight Edgers from the 20 mostly Hispanic street gangs the gang unit monitors are that its victims are often unknown and randomly targeted based on lifestyle observations, Officer Paul Adamson said. Victims of other gangs are usually known due to a rivalry or debt, he said. Traditional gangs take pride in their criminal image, not for abstaining from substances.

“Typically the gang activity we see here are from kids who come from underprivileged backgrounds whose families work a lot and don’t have a lot of means,” said Roy Stralla, a deputy district attorney who has prosecuted some Straight Edgers.

“But these upper and middle-class kids think the gang lifestyle is a glorified status,” he said. “They have more money and more means to commit acts of violence.”

Stralla said Straight Edge crime appears limited to school issues, such as problems with other students, and has not bled into committing burglaries or selling drugs.