Saturday's Internet Edition, May 17, 2008.
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As police are required by law to compile their own crime reports, Thomasville authorities recently released crime statistics from 2007 to the city manager, mayor and members of City Council. The data will be submitted to the North Carolina State Bureau of investigation and then to the FBI for inclusion in the “Crime in the United States” report.
Acknowledging the increase in gang activity in Thomasville, Police Chief Ronald S. Bratton said Thursday some of last year’s robberies were tied to gangs.
“There has always been gang activity, heard about it in Lexington and High Point,” Bratton said. “We had more gang activity that we could see.”
Realizing gangs do exist in Thomasville, police made the position of gang investigator full time in 2007. In the role of gang investigator, Sgt. Tim Clark has educated parents whose kids might possibly be in a gang in attempts to reduce their criminal activity.
“His job was to make these parents aware that this is going on,” Bratton said.
In addition, Thomasville police started checking MySpace accounts, where they have learned that some youngsters have admitted their role in gangs.
With an increase of robbery arrests, Thomasville police were very worried if a store clerk would be killed or someone could get hurt. In November and December, there were numerous convenience store robberies. Often, three or four people armed with guns would be involved in the robberies, Bratton said.
“[In 2007] we had a lot of robberies,” the police chief said. “Young black guys wearing hoods. A lot of those guys, who would show up at the robberies, actually belonged to some of those gangs.”
Over the summer, there was also an increase in vandalism, with 103 crimes reported in 2007 compared to 87 the year before. Some of the vandalism was due in part to a self-made gang, involving youngsters, calling themselves “Bravehearts.”
“This year we had a surge of people stealing copper, breaking into houses for copper and aluminum,” he said. “We think that is more because we have a lot of crack dealers and people using drugs.”
The 34-year police department veteran also said unemployment can be tied to some of the crimes.
“We have a lot of people who don’t have jobs,” Bratton said. “We have a lot of people who are underemployed who went from a job at Thomasville Furniture Industries to going to school, drawing unemployment or working for $6 or $7 an hour.”
While there was an increase in arrests made with larceny and robbery, Thomasville had no murders in 2007. In 2006, there was three murders.
Staff Writer Darrick Ignasiak can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 231, or ignasiak@tvilletimes.com.