SPRINGFIELD, TN (WSMV) -
As many small Middle Tennessee towns deal with more big-city problems, Springfield is tackling the issue of gang activity head-on.
City leaders are getting serious about addressing the problem they said many people in the community many not realize - that gangs are moving into the area.
"Gangs in Springfield are a relatively new phenomenon. It's not like Chicago, where it's entrenched in the fabric, it's a new phenomenon," said Police Chief David Thompson.
Among the recent events believed to be gang related were a homicide at a convenience store and a bank robbery.
Alderman James Hubbard said now is the time to act.
"We have a tendency not to want to believe that the same stuff that happens in our eastern cities and our western cities will come down home," he said.
Hubbard said issues he sees in his job as a counselor on the streets of Springfield - poverty, drugs, illiteracy - pave the way for gang life.
"I know the cause and effect," he said. "I have been screaming for 20 years since I've been an alderman. We need to take these things into consideration."
The police chief, who has been on the job for about six months after moving from Florida, said he has a plan.
Officers will attend gang conferences, for example. But, he agrees the problem also involves fighting poverty, and proving a better education and jobs.
"It should be a call to action, not a call to fear," Thompson said.
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