ROCKINGHAM — With gang activity on the rise in Richmond County, one organization is helping to inform residents of the problem.
The Connections Family Support and Community Collaboration program is hosting a gang awareness workshop from noon-1:30 Thursday, March 21 at the fellowship hall of First United Methodist Church in Rockingham.
Investigators from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Vice Narcotics Unit will be the guest speakers.
Sheriff James Clemmons announced the formation of a gang task force in December 2016 comprised of the sheriff’s office, Rockingham and Hamlet police departments, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice, Richmond County Schools and the system’s Special Police, District Attorney Reese Saunders’ office and the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions mentioned Hamlet’s gang problems, which led to the cancellation of July 4th festivities in 2017, during a gang conference in Winston-Salem last year.
“I certainly respect the decision of the city leaders, but it is infuriating and wrong to me that they had to make it,” he said. “This is America. We will not be held hostage in our homes by gangsters.”
Resources and lunch will be provided free.
Contact Suzanne Maness at 910-627-1769, toll free at 877-211-5995 or by email at connectionsfsp@gmail.com for more information.
The deadline to register is March 18, 2019.
