By Ryan Smith
06/29/08 — CONNEAUT LAKE — It’s a far cry from the mean streets of inner-city Los Angeles, but a group of young people in Conneaut Lake is apparently calling itself the Crips.
Conneaut Lake Regional Police Department has been receiving reports about the “gang,” reportedly identifying itself as the “814 High Rollin’ Crips,” since around the end of the recent school year, according to department Sgt. Greg Nichols.
He said the group’s most outright activity was the recent spray-painting of numerous downtown businesses with gang insignia and profanities. “We haven’t come into contact with them,” and “we haven’t seen any (of the common blue) gang-related colors,” Nichols said, but “we’ve received several phone calls” about the group’s alleged activities.
Borough resident and parent Mark Damratoski said his 11-year-old son and numerous other kids and adults have been physically threatened by members of the group.
In response, Damratoski is hosting a public meeting Wednesday to discuss the “gang” and ways the community may best react to the recent activities. The meeting is at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Pizza Hut, 240 Water St.
“We figure if we can get an organization together, we’ll have an entire community standing behind” the effort to stop the group’s activities before they escalate beyond threats, he said. “Even though they’re not real Crips, they’re taking this very seriously,” he added.
Nichols said the department plans to have an officer in attendance at the meeting, and said anyone with information about the group and its activities should call the department at 382-4364.
The Crips reportedly first appeared as a street gang in Los Angeles around the late 1960s. The group have been most known for a bitter and often-violent rivalry with another urban gang, the Bloods.
YOU CAN GO
A public meeting to discuss recent alleged “gang” activity in Conneaut Lake is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pizza Hut, 240 Water St., Conneaut Lake.
