Town 'N Country Neighborhood, Police Take On Gangs

TAMPA - Graffiti doesn't last long in Timberlane Park.

Almost as soon as a gang member finishes tagging a building, road sign or sidewalk, Carlton Lewis and other residents of the Town 'N Country neighborhood are grabbing cameras and cans of paint so they can both document and eradicate the symbols.

"You won't find any of those symbols in our neighborhood today," Lewis said. "We paint out as soon as we can."

Lewis spoke in the park Thursday at a news conference that was held to showcase recent efforts by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to combat gang-related crimes.

Deputies conducted a countywide sweep Thursday, arresting 29 suspects identified either as gang members or their associates, Maj. Albert Frost said.

Charges included probation violations, drug possession and theft, he said. Some suspects, he said, belong to small, local groups, such as the Timberlane Bloods and T 'N C Boys.

Frost, who commands District III, said some of the suspects have violent backgrounds or gang leadership roles.

"No matter what gangs they belong to, they're all criminals," Frost said.

Though investigators have identified 115 to 120 active gangs that have about 2,600 members in the county, Frost said, the sheriff's office does not consider Hillsborough to have a "full-blown" gang problem.

Undercover detectives and uniformed deputies will continue to focus on the Timberlane Park neighborhood as a response to residents' complaints, the major said.

Lewis, a member of the neighborhood crime watch group, said a handful of residents are working hard to help the sheriff's office. They meet monthly and network through the Internet.

"There are not a lot of us, only a few," Lewis said. "But the community is aware of what we do out there. The problem is real, and it's been around for a long time."

The sheriff's office especially is working to curb late-night crimes of opportunity in the neighborhood, such as auto burglaries and strong-arm robberies, Frost said.

If you're out at 3 a.m., you're going to be stopped by a deputy and asked what you're doing there, the major said.

Lewis has no problem with such tactics - even after being accused of running a stop sign at night, he said.

"I've even been stopped and been asked, 'Who are you?'" he said. "I tell them, and I tell them I'm glad they're here. ... That's police protection. There's a price for freedom. Our price to pay is vigilance."

Frost said the sheriff's message to the gangs is that the deputies aren't going anywhere and that the streets belong to the residents.

Lewis said he had a message for them, too:

"Go away. Get a life. Get a job."