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ATTLEBORO - Only a short distance from Providence, Brockton and New Bedford - cities with documented street gangs and problems with youth violence - Attleboro has mostly avoided a rising tide of drive-by shootings, rampant drug dealing and petty crime. But the city's image as a gang-free environment is changing.

In the past several months, there have been growing instances of graffitti or "tagging" on public property, homes and businesses with gang insignia and messages, along with sporadic crime in which gang influence is suspect.

"It's possible we could have some gang members living in Attleboro," Police Chief Richard Pierce said.

But Pierce says most of the evidence he's seen points to an increase in "simulated" gang activity - the graffiti or young people wearing or displaying gang colors - rather than a pattern of serious gang-related crime.

"We have no credible evidence of the existence of a gang faction operating here," Pierce said. He did acknowledge there have been sporadic incidents or "seasonal" activity by the Asian Boyz, a well-known group that is part of the "blue" or "folk nation" family of gangs that includes the Crips.

There have also been reports of members of out-of-town gangs venturing into the area in an attempt to recruit members.

The chief's comments mirror those of state gang investigators, who have said in the past that they have yet to detect a pattern of gang crime in Attleboro.

In an effort to keep it that way, Pierce and his officers regularly trade intelligence with other law enforcement agencies to gain an insight into gang activities, and he says his department is prepared to take a hard line against perpetrators.

"We've done a pretty good job of keeping a lid on it," Pierce said, adding his officers are watching closely and are not about to let self-styled gangs or their admirers gain a foothold in the city.

"I would think most real gang members would not want to call attention to themselves," he said. "But if they want that kind of attention, we're bound to take notice."

Scattered incidents over the past year, ranging from gang logos spray-painted on city underpasses and factories to isolated assaults, have raised concern.

Police dispersed a gathering of youths last fall that included several Attleboro High School students outside Thacher Elementary School after officials were warned of a possible distubance. Two teenage boys were charged with carrying knives.

More recently, three teachers were roughed up trying to break up a fight between two students at the high school, one of them a reputed gang member. School officials say the fight was the result of a simmering disagreement between the two, and the incident was not gang-related.

Principal Don Frederick is adamant that gangs are not a part of daily life at Attleboro High. Communication between students and staff is good, he said, and students are strongly opposed to disruptive influences like gangs in their building. "We don't have that culture here," said Frederick, a former Rhode Island high school principal familiar with gang problems in Providence. "We are nowhere near there."

The school recently instituted a system of student advisory groups in which staff members hold twice monthly meetings with small numbers of students.

Frederick said he hopes the meetings will empower students, encourage a free exchange of ideas and root out potential problems. The school already bans students from wearing gang colors or paraphernalia and is working to update its discipline code.

Outside school walls, however, there have occasionally been more serious symptoms.

In 2006, three young men and a 16-year-old boy were arrested for robbing a North Main Street convenience store at knifepoint, later referring to themselves as the "ELB Gang" for "Exotic Little Bloods."

The three pleaded guilty Feb. 7 to the holdup, which prosecutors said they suspected was part of a gang initiation. The three adults received suspended jail sentences and probation.

More recently, a 23-year-old man was stabbed while reportedly trying to act as peacemaker between groups clashing over gang affinities, although that account is disputed by defense lawyers.

In October, a 17-year-old New Bedford resident was indicted in the stabbing death of 18-year-old David Morales outside Morales' Pine Street apartment. Police have identified no evidence linking the killing to gangs, Pierce said.

Violence and graffiti have not been the only factors calling attention to the gang question.

A confrontational display by several youths outside the County Street campus of Bristol Community College last year resulted in no injuries, but succeeded in riveting officials' attention.

A number of young men all wearing red showed up outside the County Street campus, and some entered the building. Although no one was injured, The Sun Chronicle has confirmed that one BCC staffer was threatened.

The group disappeared after being told to leave, according to BCC Attleboro campus Director Kathy Torpey Garganta, who was not present during the occurrence.

Garganta said she surmises the group, which may have come from out of town, could have been "sending a message" to other youths or potential rivals in the area. The same building that hosts the BCC classrooms is also occupied by an alternative high school program run by the city school department.

Outside a collection of seemingly unconnected incidents, however, the extent of gang involvement in the local community is shrouded. But there is little doubt that some local young people - for whatever reason - identify with gangs.

A 19-year-old Asian man who identifies himself as "KCO.C.G." displays pictures of himself and friends on his MySpace page making the "C" hand sign and wearing bright blue colors signifying the Crips.

The "O.C.G." refers to "Original Crip Gang." The teenager lists his occupation as "part time hustler, full time gangster."

A young woman of Cambodian heritage who features a shrine to murdered rapper Tupac Shakur on her Myspace page lists among her groups "15-ORIGINAL-CRIP-G4NG-37 East-Side Park Attleboro."

But while such symbols may be gaining popularity both on the street and on the Net, the scale of local youth crime and violence in Attleboro pales next to that in nearby cities like Brockton and New Bedford, both of which have suffered recent shootings and murders.

On New Year's Day, 19-year-old Markeen Starks was fatally stabbed outside a New Year's Day party in Brockton. His accused killer, a 15 year-old boy, turned himself in to police. Not long after that, 24-year-old Adilson Pires was shot to death after leaving Starks's wake. A 26-year-old man has been charged with his murder.

The killings were the most startling incidents in a recent spate of violence in the city. Two men were shot in the head in other assaults, but survived.

The violence prompted a response by a citizens group calling itself the Brockton Peace Crusaders, who have pleaded for those with knowledge of the crimes to come forward.

In New Bedford, the city's high school recently was the scene of a disturbance created by about 25 students, apparently in response to the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy at a New Year's Eve house party. The group was believed to have been looking for a student who might have been connected to the murder, according to published reports.

Last spring, state and federal authorities capped a year-long investigation into gangs and drug trafficking in New Bedford by obtaining indictments against 37 members and associates of the notorious Latin Kings drug gang.

And in August, federal prosecutors obtained indictments against 15 people, many of whom were part of a Taunton-based motorcycle gang, alleging offenses from cocaine distribution to illegal firearms possession. Two members of the gang, named the Outlaws, were identified as suspects in a 2006 Norton carjacking.

In contrast, Attleboro court officials say they seldom see local criminal cases related to suspected gang activity or members.

Coria Holland, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Probation Department, said chief probation officers at Attleboro District Court report little evidence at the courthouse level to support a pattern of gang-related crime.

What has become more common, Pierce said, has been the emergence of younger teenagers flashing gang signs or wearing colors associated with gang families. It's not clear, however, that the youngsters are directly tied to organized groups.

Nevertheless, Pierce and other law enforcement officials are concerned.

"The fact that individuals might not have documentable ties to organized gangs does not mean there's no reason for concern," Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said. "If anything, some of those who are impressed by gangs - some people call them 'wannabes' - may be more dangerous because they may be more likely to do something to earn a gang's respect so they can become members."

Hodgson credits Pierce's department and Attleboro city officials for taking a pro-active posture with respect to youth crime and gangs.

The sheriff's office is already deeply involved in combating gangs both in the Bristol County House of Correction, which it administers, and as part of the anti-gang Hope Collaborative that deploys outreach workers throughout the New Bedford area.

There is also a re-entry program for jailed inmates that seeks to prevent released ex-cons from re-importing gang ties back into the community.

Hodgson even maintains a truck and crew assigned to erasing gang-inspired graffitti or "tagging" as soon as it appears. The idea, Hodgson says, is to deny free advertising to gangs who want to build an image and warn away rivals.

The emergence of low-level violence and graffiti in Attleboro presents law enforcement with a ticklish problem: the need to take an aggressive stance while at the same not investing potential gangsters with credibility that might feed their self-esteem.

Pierce says he does not want undeserved notariety or exaggerated rumors to embolden aspiring gangsters. At the same time, police need a sensitized public to report potential criminal activity and get rid of gang symbols and graffiti.

"We have to walk a very fine line," he said.

The chief says members of the Attleboro department are vigilant in looking for evidence of gangs and other forms of street crime. But they need help.

"If someone sees tagging or suspicious activity, they should call us right away," said Pierce, who added that failure to act only encourages more graffitti and vandalism.

"If graffiti is removed, somebody may put it up again," he said. "But if you remove it enough times, they'll eventually get tired of doing it."

RICK FOSTER can be reached at 508-236-0360 or at rfoster@thesunchronicle.com.