Police say while gangs not a problem, they keep ears and eyes open

• Reprints

Updated: March 11, 2012 8:14AM

While local law enforcement officials said there is no evidence of gang activity in Hinsdale or Clarendon Hills, they continue to be proactive in keeping up with gang-related information from neighboring towns.

“That’s the key, to stay proactive,” Hinsdale Police Chief Brad Bloom said. “By doing that, you’re likely to be able to head off any problems before they would happen.”

The recently-released Chicago Crime Commission Gang Book has no information for Clarendon Hills, which the commission reports did not respond to its survey. But estimates that Hinsdale has 10 active gang members and one active gang, Original Crew. That gang is not listed as being of concern.

However, Hinsdale Deputy Police Chief Mark Wodka said he has not heard of Original Crew and was not aware of any active gangs or gang members in Hinsdale.

“My guess is that if there is something, it’s probably in the unincorporated area near Route 83, south of I-55,” he said.

Dawn Domrose, spokesman for the DuPage County Sheriff’s Police, said she had no information about any major gang problems in that area. She also said the DuPage County Sheriff has not provided any information to the Chicago Crime Commission.

“By law, we make reports to the state and federal governments,” she said. “I really don’t know where they got their information.”

Bloom said Hinsdale police also have not provided any information about gangs directly to the Chicago Crime Commission. Nobody from the commission returned phone messages left to find out where it obtained information used in the Gang Book.

Hinsdale is not alone among communities having information in the Gang Book about which police officials said they are unaware. In Glencoe, Public Safety Chief Mike Volling said he had no knowledge of gang members living in that village, despite the Gang Book stating Glencoe has 15 active gang members.

Glencoe police said they did fill out the Chicago Crime Commission gang survey, but suspect there was a misunderstanding about the information submitted.

Chief Ted Jenkins of the Clarendon Hills Police Department said he didn’t know anything about the information in the Chicago Crime Commission Gang Book.

“We aren’t aware of any known gang members living in Clarendon Hills or any gang activity here, either,” he said. “It’s important for us to have good communication, though, from other towns in the area so that if there are any reports of anything gang related, we are aware of it.”

In neighboring Western Springs, the statistic of 20 active gang members since 2008 includes those who are passing through town and are stopped for a traffic violation, as well as persons staying temporarily with family or friends, said Deputy Police Chief Brian Budds.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that those gang members live in Western Springs. They may have been in Western Springs at some point in time, or there may be others that we’re not aware of or had contact with,” Budds said. “There’s no drug trafficking or possession that we can link or associate with a known gang member.

“I would not be alarmed by those numbers at all. It’s a broad data range,” he said. “We’ve had very little or no activity, and hopefully we never will.”

Gang affiliations there include the Latin Kings, Simon City Royals and Two-Six.

Although the department doesn’t offer formalized gang resistance training, the topic is addressed through a crime prevention officer at the elementary schools and a resource office at the Lyons Township High School South Campus for freshmen and sophomores in Western Springs.

According to the Chicago Crime Commission, information in the Gang Book was taken directly from the 2011 Chicago Crime Commission Survey of Gang and Drug Activity. The commission said it sent surveys in 2011 to all police agencies in the six-county area, totaling 249 departments, of which 170 responded.

Jane Michaels contributed to this article.