Back in the late 1980s when Chuck Gosline - an active community member - had children in grade school, he joined Project COPE in an effort to help increase community awareness regarding alcohol, drugs and personal health - the problems facing kids of that era. Today, he finds himself as Project COPE's new co-chair but with a very different mission: battling gangs in Farmingdale.

According to Mike Grello, president of the Concerned Citizen's Association of Farmingdale (CCAF), since last November the Village of Farmingdale has fallen victim to various hits of gang-related graffiti. He noted that the markings all came shortly after the Sept. 14 murder of a young man on the Farmingdale bicycle path along the Bethpage State Parkway, which Grello said was allegedly gang-related. Stating his awareness of gang graffiti, Grello linked the tags with the Salvadorian gang known as MS-13. He also believes that there is a correlation between the gang presence and the fact that the day laborers congregate near Fabio's Deli - a frequent graffiti target. His theory is that the day laborers are easy targets for gangs because of their immediate need of money and the fact that since many are in this country illegally, their fear of deportation is higher than the fear of committing illegal activities for quick cash.

"I'm alarmed at some of the activity taking place," Gosline said. These incidents seem to be a clear indication of an increased gang presence in the area, but when Gosline heard mixed messages as to how severe the problem in Farmingdale truly was, he decided to go straight to the police for verification. "I myself wanted to find out what was going on."

After speaking with police in December, Gosline found that in 2003 the Eighth Precinct - of which Farmingdale is a part - had 25 reported gang-related incidents and 10 gang-related arrests - one of which involved a weapon. Gosline warned that at first glance these numbers seem minor in comparison to numbers for the First Precinct which had 324 gang-related incidents and 225 gang-related arrests - 42 of which involved a weapon, and numbers for the Third Precinct which had 223 gang-related incidents and 165 gang-related arrests - seven of which involved a weapon. But he also found that 90 percent of the Eighth Precinct's incidents were in Farmingdale alone. He was also given information that displayed an increase of over 100 percent in gang-related incidents in the Eighth Precinct since 2002.

Any further statistical indication of increased gang-related violence or increased gang presence could not be obtained from the Nassau County Police Department by press time.

"When will we wake up? When it's our child? When it's our neighbor's child?" Grello rhetorically asked. "We need to make sure our children are safe in our schools and on our streets." So two weeks ago on Jan. 22, in the first attempt of its kind, Grello - along with all of CCAF in conjunction with the Nassau County Police Department Detectives Association Inc. (DAI) - hosted an open seminar at the community center in Allen Park called "Gang Awareness in Your Community," where in a two-and-a-half-hour seminar, the 90-member audience was educated on how to identify a gang presence and how to protect children from becoming victims of gang recruitment and violence.

Before the presentation began, guests - which included several dignitaries - were distributed a 10-page packet highlighting what parents should know about gangs. It defined what exactly a gang is, described reasons for joining them, and detailed how to identify gang members and how to detect a gang presence in their community. The packet also included photocopied pictures of gang-related graffiti tags and gave tips as to what can be done if someone should suspect their child is being lured into a gang.

"Be aware that you do have a gang problem in Nassau County," said Thomas Willdigg, president of the DAI, standing before a wide-eyed crowd. "There are 2,500 confirmed gang members in Nassau County alone."

Retired Nassau County Police Detective Corey Alleyne then took over for the majority of the evening and began by commending the guests for their attendance. He explained to them that denial is a major contributor to the overall problem of gang presence in a community, so their presence alone was already a proactive step. But instead of just presenting the audience with statistics denoting the severity of gang presence or violence in their community, Alleyne concentrated on educating and informing them instead, because he believes that whether a community has one incident or 100, if you are the victim, knowing what the odds were becomes irrelevant.

He tried to make it clear that gangs are "equal opportunity employers" and that all children are at risk of being recruited. After showing a video clip of how gang presence has been noticed in the military since 1995, he strengthened his point by saying that if gangs can even infiltrate into our nation's protectors, people cannot go on thinking it can't happen in Nassau County or in Farmingdale. He also drew very important parallels between the reasons kids join gangs and the reasons they join clubs or teams: acceptance, protection, self-esteem, love; things they may not be receiving at home.

"Your wannabe [gang member] is like your JV player and will aspire to be on varsity," he said. And like athletes who have to use their strength and desire to prove they are worthy of making the team, potential gang members have to commit crimes and endure beatings to show their loyalty. Gangs wear certain colors just like teams wear their jerseys and they use hand signs to communicate with one another just as ball players do on the field. Gangs attempt to provide kids with the same sense of security and pride that teams provide - that is why, Alleyne said, it is so easy to become a victim.

The seminar ended by Alleyne reiterating that vigilance and open parent-child communication are vital in solving the gang problem and he urged the audience to contact their local police if they suspect gang activity in their neighborhoods. "Law enforcement needs you the same way you need law enforcement," he said.

Guests were then permitted to direct questions to any of the police personnel present and were encouraged to approach them after the seminar for any further discussion. One unidentified audience member noted that there was no presence from the school district, which - to her - portrayed denial of the problem; exactly what Alleyne originally warned them against. When questioned as to why no one from the school system attended the seminar, Superintendent Dr. Roberta Gerold said that she had indeed told Grello about an overlapping board meeting on the same night that could not be re-scheduled. She added that the school is planning to have a seminar of its own on March 8 - sponsored by Project COPE - regarding bullying, violence and gang prevention.

Ellen Krammer, administrative director of the district and coordinator of the school's March 8 event said that it will be a workshop open to all adults in the community in hopes that they will be educated about the proposed topics, and be able to in turn, go back to their homes and educate their children on how to resist pressures from outside groups. Krammer also commented on the lack of the schools' presence at the Jan. 22 seminar, stating that it was due to a celebration of the district's 190th anniversary, at which board member Dr. Philip Acinapuro was honored with a very important dedication.

Still, Grello said he is not satisfied with what he called the school's excuses. "They sure as hell could have sent someone," he contested.

Grello also indicated that he believes that the police are doing what they can with what they have but it's definitely hard for them to be proactive when the department has experienced a decrease in personnel over the last couple of years. Frank J. Allaire, Nassau County Police Detective with the Eighth Squad, agreed with Grello. He said that it's difficult to eliminate the gang problem when with the decreasing manpower. In the last five years, he said the Police Department has gone from 3,400 uniformed officers to 2,400; nearly a 30 percent decrease.

CCAF feels like it took the first step by holding the seminar, Grello said. "It was to whet people's taste buds and get the message out." But he stressed that a civic group cannot accomplish much of a change on its own so "now we need a communitywide education process," he said.