Murfreesboro is changing. If you have lived here for awhile, you know this. If you just moved here, wait two years and you’ll be saying the same thing.
Growth is a good thing. It means prosperity. But growth also brings some undesirable elements: crime, and more specifically, gangs. Yes, with the recent series of shootings it seems Murfreesboro has a gang problem. We are not unique in this. Gangs are a nationwide problem. But one of the reasons for all the growth we have experienced here is the relatively low crime rate.
Murfreesboro has crime, no doubt, but we do not live under the cloud as do a lot of bigger metropolitan areas. It is still reasonably safe to forget to lock your doors, most houses don’t have bars on the windows and crime usually doesn’t touch us on a day-to-day basis.
Tony DeFeo, owner of The Alley Art Gallery on the Square, moved here from New York City and has had some gang graffiti in his neighborhood.
“Murfreesboro is a rare jewel and it must be protected at all costs,” he said. He moved here to escape the high-crime environment of the bigger city. He has seen what gang activity can do to a neighborhood and believes it must be dealt with immediately.
“We (referring to other businesses) don’t have to have alarms on our businesses, we don’t awake every night to the sounds of car alarms. This is were I want my kids to grow up,” DeFeo continued.
So exactly what is the problem?
According to Sgt. Cary Gensemer of the Murfreesboro Police Department, several of the recent shootings, including the one at Drink, were all gang related. And, as part of gang initiation, houses are being shot into randomly.
One man, who wants his identity and residence to remain anonymous, has had multiple gunshots fired into his home while he and his family were in it.
“Due to mistaken identity, my home was terrorized for three weeks,” he said. “I feel like it takes a real coward to shoot at someone’s house in the middle of the night.”
After the second shooting, the police suggested the family, for their own safety, not stay in the house for a while. Now the homeowner is enduring financial hardship due to numerous repairs to the home as well as the stress from not being able to stay in his residence. But the shootings have stopped and he encourages other victims to get the police involved.
The main reason for most gang activity is common street-level drugs.
The problem grows more complicated, because the gangs are evolving. In the past, race and territory were the norm for gangs, but that has changed. Gangs in Rutherford County are multiracial and don’t seem to be territorial. Additionally, the police say none of the local gangs have any dress code or colors that they display. This makes identifying the source of these gangs a lot more difficult.
According to Kyle Evans, MPD public relations officer, the department has developed a multi-officer task force to deal with the problem. And they have compiled a real-time database available to all officers in the field.
“We are doing everything we can, utilizing all resources available, working diligently to curtail and deter all criminal activity,” Evans said. He pointed out that gangs are not a big part of Murfreesboro’s crime problem and that crime is down in the city. But the police department wants to be proactive in controlling the problem, ask that the public cooperate with them and offer these tips:
* Be an ally to the police and report any suspicious activity.
* It never hurts for your house to always look like its lived in.
* Remove any graffiti tags as soon as you see them.
* Educate yourself and your children.
The appeal of most gangs to would-be members is simple: it’s the lure of easy money and a sense of belonging to something. MTV’s “Cribs,” celebrity lifestyle shows, the media reporting the lives of actors, rappers and athletes that seem to be above the law, all lead to a want for the good life. Gangs offer quick, easy money and attract the youth that are uneducated to the consequences of their actions.
If you are talking to your kids or friends about gangs ask them this: “Do you see any 50-year-old gang members? If you don’t, that’s because they’re either in jail or dead and none of them have a house you get to see on “Cribs.”
