Return of graffiti markings from the Barrio Williams Street gang whose presence has been almost nonexistent since the mid- '90s."When we do have something that's gang related it's generally going to be something in the library, or something off campus," Laws said. "For a couple of years we were having some gang activity in the teen center on the third floor of the King Library."It took a lot of directed patrol on the part of the library security staff and the officers working in the King Library to minimize and diffuse that problem."Anh Thu Tran, a junior hospitality and management major, said she has not seen any gang activity on campus.
"Around my old neighborhood, yes, my brother has been jumped twice at Independence High, but around campus I haven't heard much about any gang violence," she said. "I'm not here on campus often. I'm here for classes, then I leave."
Tran said she has noticed graffiti tagging on the fence of her sorority house, but doesn't know the markings of any gangs. "There's obviously parties around campus and toward the evenings, or there's people that are walking the streets at night, but we don't know if they're students or not," she said. "They tend to get violent if they are not given access to some of the parties that happen to be around campus. And we've been noticing that lately."Tran said when violence breaks out at a party, they usually call the police. San Jose Community Services Supervisor Mario Maciel, said San Jose is one of the safest cities in the Bay Area.
"I haven't seen any major trends forming," he said.He said most incidents occur at parties thrown by SJSU students, but those are isolated incidents.
"A college student probably is not a gang banger," Maciel said.Laws said gangs have not been a problem on campus. "Through directed enforcement by the university police and by the city police department, we were able to essentially make the Barrio Williams Street gang something that was no longer of concern to the university," he said.Laws said UPD officers have reported seeing graffiti tagging that is associated with that gang, but no other activity has been associated with the Barrio Williams Street gang.Lt. John Spicer, from the San Jose Police Department, said the area adjacent to the campus has the lowest reported amount of gang violence out of the four geographical areas in San Jose. He said those areas include Central Division (where SJSU is located), Foothill Division (East San Jose), Western Division, and the Southern Division.Spicer said 10 incidents were reported in the Central Division in the last month