TARBORO — "We don't have any children who are expendable do we?"

That was the question posed by Tarboro High School Assistant Principal Darryl Morris at a gang awareness and prevention seminar Tuesday night at Saint Stephen Missionary Baptist Church.

"One hundred sixty thousand children miss school each day because they are bullied," Morris said. "The work that has to be done starts with us."

An audience of more than 50 parents, children, school officials and staff, clergy, community members and activists listened and began dialogue on the presence of and remedy to gangs in Edgecombe County.

"Public input makes a difference," said Stephen Eason, deacon of Saintt. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church. "It's not called snitching. It's called safety. Once you become a victim of a crime, you look at things totally differently."

Presented by SOCK – Saving Our Community and Kids – the gang awareness and prevention seminar was the work of Eason, Greg Higgs and Tarboro Town Council member Taro Knight.

"We have to identify the problem before we can fix anything," Knight said. "I challenge everyone to become involved."

Tarboro Police Department's Sgt. Jesse Webb began the presentations by providing background information on gangs in general then narrowing in on the gang presence in the area.

"It's usually a turf-related issue (around here)," said Webb, "but it's none the less an issue."

Webb explained that while gangs in this area are far less formal than their counterparts in large cities and on the west coast, there is some structure.

A 15-page document containing gang knowledge that a gang member was responsible for knowing includes codes, prayers, a pledge to the gang, an oath and a chronological history of the gang's development.

"This shows clear cut organization," he said.

Lt. Jay Boykin, also of the Tarboro Police Department, emphasized the county's efforts to remain proactive by tackling the gang issue head on before it grows to large city magnitude.

"Law enforcement in Edgecombe County, we all take a proactive approach to gangs and gang activity," Boykin said. "We are very active in our local school system, educating our faculty and staff on what to look for."

Deputy Wilson Muse of the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office works in gang and narcotics investigation said that gang graffiti let's area law enforcement know who's in town and where.

"They're recruiting them (children) from early middle school and up," Muse said.

Gang graffiti has been found across the Twin Counties including Battleboro, Princeville, Tarboro, inside of cells at the Edgecombe County Detention Center, inside of Nash Rocky Mount Schools and inside of the Rocky Mount courthouse.

"All of the guys who work gangs, we share information and that's a good way for us to know the trends in the area," added Muse.

Muse added that some of the pictures law enforcement has come from the Facebook and MySpace pages of gang members and advised parents to check their children and their children's social networking web pages.

Rounding out the presenters was Morris.

Deviating from his original presentation, Morris informed parents on what's being done to help keep children safe at Tarboro High.

"We're all in this together," he said. "We have to begin to see that we have to start the work."

Morris said that cameras at THS have made learning a lot easier, with less distractions and that getting students to speak to the right people when they have a problem is still an obstacle.

"They act like it's a terrible thing to talk to adults about anything," he said. "it's that code of silence."

James and Cheryl Guilford were in the audience with four of their five daughters and asked questions to assess the dangers their children may face in school as well as learn about how they can help.

"We're concerned," James said. "We have small children. We just want to be educated. It's best to be educated and vigilant. We want to know how to recognize it (gang activity) and link it to the possibility that they may want to be in a gang.

"We are happy that someone representing the schools was here," he continued. "If my child came home bruised or with torn clothing, I don't know how I'd react."

Angela Jones used to work with out of school suspension here in Edgecombe and believes that seminars like this one are one of many steps needed to correct the gang problem.

"People need to know about gangs," she said. "But now we need to take it another step further and see what can we do to give them what the gang is giving them."