Laughter was punctuated by gasps and furrowed brows as residents and business owners saw spike-covered baseball bats and gang-color bedecked rosaries.

It was straight talk about crime in Berwyn on Sept. 24 during a citywide meeting at the police department. The department’s community room was packed with those curious to learn more about gangs, and ways seemingly innocent children can hide drugs in water bottles, aerosol cans and cereal boxes.

Residents were urged to call 911 if they spotted suspicious activity, or people they don’t know in their neighborhood. Police also told parents that they need to not only be vigilant about their children’s behavior, friends and activities, but can’t remain in the dark about that gold and black “monogrammed” scarf their child wears, sporting the letters LK.

“They want to be what they see and hear on TV and do something stupid and spend the next 40 years paying for it,” said Detective Eddie Yoshimura with the Chicago Police Department’s Gang Intelligence Unit. “You have to take an active interest in this. You can’t just listen to me and walk out scratching your head.”

It was show-and-tell night as Yoshimura brought out two of what he calls his “treasure boxes” – plastic tubs filled with items confiscated from gang members. One of these was a “violation bat.”

The wooden bat sported metal spikes jutting out menacingly. Yoshimura said it was used to punish a gang member who wanted out of the life, and fellow gang members used it to beat the person “half to death.”

Sweaters in black and blue, black and gold and black and green were on display to show various gangs’ colors. Shirts and hooded sweatshirts may include the letters “CVL” for Conservative Vice Lords, the words “Camel Boys” for a sparsely-numbered gang seen in the suburbs, or crowns and six-pointed stars. Holding up a clothes hanger draped with rosaries and crosses, Yoshimura showed how gangs altered them by adding black-and-gold or black-and-green yarn.

“If you see your son wearing a cross and he’s not gonna be a priest, something’s going on,” called out another woman from the crowd.

Even professional sports teams have logos adopted by various gangs.

“There are sports teams that affiliate themselves with gangs,” Yoshimura said.

Some professional sports players and professional musicians are connected to gangs, such as some NBA players and rappers who have bonded gang members out of jail, he said. And some gangs target star high school athletes.

There are an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 active gang members operating in Chicago alone, Yoshimura said, but couldn’t peg how many gang members might be working in the Berwyn-Cicero area.

Often children are attracted to gang life by the stories older gang members tell, and the lure of making tons of cash in the drug trade, he added. And some parents say they never knew their child was in a gang — until he dies, Yoshimura said.

“The best solution for this is for parents to spend time with the kids and be involved in their lives so we don’t have to later,” Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner said.

And with the economy heading downward, Mayor Michael O’Connor said it’s no secret that some types of crime, such as robberies and burglaries, have increased in the community.

“You’re making more calls to the police department (reporting crimes and suspicious activity) than we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “There’s a lot of desperate people out there.”

According to crime statistics provided by the police department, 39 robberies were reported in 2006 in Berwyn from Jan. 1 through Aug. 1. During that same period in 2007, 35 robberies were reported. But this year from Jan. 1 through Aug. 1, 42 robberies were reported.

“As the economy continues to tank, the robbery reports are gonna go up,” Kushner said.

He said residents need to call 911 to report crimes or any unusual activities they might see so police can respond quickly.

“Ten years ago, if you called the police department they would give you the third degree,” real estate agent Tony La said. “We want to know you want us to call.”

Resident Kelly Clark said she experienced a frustrating experience recently when she called police. She was awakened at about 2:30 a.m. by flashing police lights and a saw a paddywagon parked in front of her house. Concerned for her family’s safety, she said she called police.

“No one would tell me what happened. I have a toddler,” Clark said. “I don’t want it to be a one-way street and that’s how I feel it’s been lately.”

Kushner said police sometimes cannot divulge information because it is an ongoing investigation and they do not want to jeopardize the case.