New York State Senators led by Michael Balboni believe that Nassau County has a gang problem and now is the time to do something about it. Balboni along with Senators Kemp Hannon, Charles Fuschillo and Carl Marcellino are pushing for the passage of laws such as making it a felony to recruit members on schools grounds.

"When you talk to men and women in law enforcement, they'll tell you that gang violence is getting worse, the number of gang members is increasing and has become one of the real scourges of our communities," Balboni said.

The senator is calling for the expansion of Gangnet, a national computer gang-tracking system that provides information on gang members, their crimes and their affiliations. "It's very critical to the exposure and tracking of gang members to make sure you have computer databases that look at things like hand gestures, colors and tagging and graffiti on different walls in different communities," Balboni said.

According to Balboni, the State Senate has passed a bill that makes it a felony crime for gang recruitment on school grounds. Balboni said he doesn't understand why the bill has not become a law other than there is some concern in the assembly that there may be some profiling involved in identifying gang members. Balboni is also in favor of providing funding for after-school programs that provide education and outreach about gangs to children in grades two through nine and their families.

Thomas Willdigg, who has been a detective for 24 years and is familiar with gangs, said that the problem in Nassau County is very serious. "Years ago, you never had this problem in Nassau County. Gangs have infiltrated just about every community," he said. "There's no barbed wire."

According to Willdigg, fighting gangs involves educating children, parents and school officials, getting more police on the street, and training and dedicating more detectives to investigate gangs and gang crime. "Gangs are on an uprise. I think there's probably 3,000 confirmed gang members in Nassau County, which is probably truly only 50 percent of what is really out there. Very little has been done to combat it in Nassau County," he said.

According to Willdigg, the police force has been cut in the areas of gang enforcement and narcotic enforcement. He said Nassau had eight cops detailed to the gang problem and now only has two.

With the reduction of the police force and youth programs sometimes in danger of being cut due to budget constraints, does the county have the weapons to combat gangs? "I'm concerned about the level of resources in both Suffolk and Nassau and that's why we're trying to get more resources for them. I think it's important to understand that this is because our crime stats have decreased, we still have this problem we have to address now. We can't wait until it becomes an epidemic," Balboni said.

Community members begin to take notice when gang violence hits home. According to Willdigg, in one day alone, there were two gang murders in which a body was found in Old Westbury and in Bethpage, a serious assault in Freeport and a shooting in a crossfire in Uniondale. "That's all within a ten hour period in one day on Sept. 21, 2004," he said.

On Sept. 23, 2001, Reatha Bostic of Freeport lost her 14-year-old son, who was shot by gangs. "My son was killed by a gang because the Bloods and the Crips decided they wanted to fight with one another," said Bostic.

On that day, Jose White, who wanted to become a minister in the Roosevelt community, was riding his bike when some members of the Bloods, one of the gangs that has infiltrated Long Island, fired three shots. One of the shots hit White in the back. Now, Bostic speaks to other families who have been affected by gang violence.

"This doesn't just happen in the city of New York anymore. This is prevalent all over Long Island and it could lead to a destruction of our society," said Fuschillo.

Earlier this year, Assemblyman Tom Alfano held a gang summit. Students from Elmont Memorial High School testified that there was not a gang problem in the school. However, Gateway Youth Outreach Director Pat Boyle said that there are gang members in the community.

The need for after-school programs and educating kids about gangs could go a long way in helping curb the problem, according to some. "It's up to us as a community to come together along with our educators, parents and PTA members and everyone who makes the community what it is to teach our children at a tender young age that it's wrong to participate in gangs," said Alfano.