Topic 2b:
Law Enforcement Solutions

G.R.I.P.E. (Gang Reduction Through Intervention, Prevention, and Education) The East Coast Gang Investigators Association, Inc. (ECGIA) is proud to announce it's new program called GRIPE (Gang Reduction through Intervention, Prevention, and Education). ECGIA has been working to educate the communities and those entrusted to work with our youth about gangs. We should all realize that suppression alone would not win the war on gangs. It must be, we believe, a threefold effort to include Education, Prevention and Suppression.   Considering The Pounders Options Program: An alternative to the G.R.E.A.T. and D.A.R.E. programs is the Pounders Options Program. The Options Program educates young people "about the facts and consequences of being involved in crime, gangs, drugs, and violence; to make them aware of the 'options' available to them; and to help them make positive, well-educated choices in their lives.  "The Options 14-week school curriculum includes the following topics: self-identity and self-esteem; crime-stoppers and community resources; gangs and gang intimidation; drugs; tobacco and marijuana; alcohol and drunk driving (DWI); peer pressure; the criminal justice system; our environment; violence, aggression, and feelings; anger management and problem solving; and family violence and coping strategies. "The Options curriculum can be taught not only in schools, but in public housing projects, community centers, youth camps, juvenile detention centers, and any other location where there is a need and an expressed interest. "Options instructors are uniformed law enforcement officers, fire department personnel, members of the armed forces, and civilians from the community who are positive roll models for our youth." (The Pounders Options Program, page) Offering and participating in athletics-related activities with local youth: The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, through the Sheriff's Foundation, offer a wide range of programs at its various centers (all in area police stations). Among the activities are basketball, explorers programs, soap box derbies, aerobics, cheerleading and much more.   Implementing a Juvenile Gang Intervention Partnership Program: The Juvenile Gang Intervention Partnership Pilot Program is the Chicago (IL) Police Department's most recent and effective response to gang activity and youth violence in that city. The Department has joined with prosecutors, probation officers, juvenile court, schools, child welfare professionals, public health officials, and business and civic organizations in order to share a commitment to: "reduce recidivism (reoffending) among juvenile offenders who are already involved with gangs, or 'at risk' of becoming gang affiliated; reduce the levels of juvenile gang activity and the numbers of juveniles belonging to criminal street gangs; and provide direction intervention services targeted at gang affiliated and 'at risk' juvenile offenders." (Chicago Police Department, page, off the Internet as of November, 2005.)   Establishing a Strategic Complement Against Thugs (SCAT) effort: "To counter street-level gang activity, the Des Moines Police Department established SCAT (Strategic Complement Against Thugs). SCAT uses nine patrol officers familiar with the gang territories. The officers work from 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. Much of their work is foot patrol. Weekly intelligence meetings with police executives and representatives from other divisions and agencies help target problem areas.  "The SCAT team enabled the police to be proactive instead of just reactive. The sergeant advised that although SCAT has not eliminated the gangs, it has made them less menacing to citizens on the streets. The police department has joined forces with the Des Moines Parks Department in a program called "Operation Eraser." Citizens can call a special number to report graffiti, and the Parks Department will remove it without charge. The police department hopes that a new aggressive stance and surveillance by SCAT will mitigate the problem." (Lingwall, 1991)  You can order this document from the National Institute of Justice (NCJ document #147193). Implementing a Vital Intervention and Directional Alternatives VIDA Program: The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department created and implemented the VIDA program. The program "is specifically designed to deal with 'at-risk' youth and utilize pro-active, innovative techniques for positive redirection. Overseen by law enforcement personnel, the program offers treatment, prevention, and punitive components to alter negative behavior. The VIDA program is designed to have juvenile offenders bond with law enforcement officers, rather than street gang members. The VIDA program is a collaborative effort between law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations, with law enforcement being the facilitator and taking the leadership role. There are six basic components to the VIDA program: intake night (includes the parents of gang youth in an introduction to the program), individual and family counseling, community service, physical training, behavior modification, and career guidance." (VIDA, page, removed from the web as of 9-3-2008) Practicing community policing: The community policing model of policing combines both community-oriented policing (with its "primary emphasis on establishing a working partnership with the community" [Roberg, et al., 2000, p. 73]) with problem-oriented policing ("concerned primarily with identifying and solving community problems" [Roberg, et al., 2000, p. 73]). The community policing model of policing "is a collaborative effort between the police and the community that identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems. It is founded on close, mutually beneficial ties between police and community members." (New York State University Police, page) The power of this model, in regards to gang activity and  youth violence, is that it involves the police in an active partnership with all elements of the community - including those which may assist in solving the core problems which cause gangs to form as well as prevention and intervention efforts. The SARA Model is an extension and reflection of the community policing model and involves an approach to gang activity (or any crime problem) which requires scanning, analysis, response, and assessment. As applied to gangs, scanning involves identifying gang-related problems and bringing them to the attention of the neighborhood/community. (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1997, p. 17) "The objective of the analysis stage is to develop a thorough understanding of a problem," (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1997, p. 1), while "the response stage has three objectives: developing options based on information gathered during the analysis, selecting a response, and implementing the response." (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1997, p. 25) "Assessment, also referred to as evaluation, provides useful feedback on how well the response is working." (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1997, p. 28)  Taken together, the SARA model is a powerful tool using both law enforcement and the community as a mechanism for reducing gang activity and youth violence. The model has been adopted by law enforcement agencies (local and state) across the United States. Field Note: The C.O.P. (Community-Oriented Policing) officer I shadowed today told neighborhood trouble makers "Hi. I'm officer Franklin and I'll be seeing you every day until you stop creating a problem. Either leave the neighborhood alone or get out. As soon as you stop being a problem I will leave you alone ... I have enough other work to do." The only thing Franklin identified as undesirable about his work was the need to be on call every day of the week. "Patrol was more fun," he said, "but this [community policing] is more rewarding." About two weeks earlier there was a drive-by-shooting on Franklin's beat. The residents asked for a meeting with the police gang unit and, as a result of the meeting, the C.O.P. unit was asked to run patrol (replacing the traditional patrol unit). As we slowly cruised through the neighborhood we saw several residents standing on the front lawn of someone's home. Franklin stopped the car and asked one of them "How are things going?" A 70 year old woman replied "I used to work with abused children in California. It's those parents and the child abuse that causes all of this!" Another resident said "Everything has been fine since the meeting last week. It must have been either what you guys are doing or word must have gotten out about the meeting." Franklin replied "Maybe it was a little of both." We drove away and Franklin turned to me and said "It's nice to see when things are going right ... at least for the time being." The Chicago Juvenile Gang Intervention Partnership Pilot Program (JGIPPP): "The key objectives ... include furthering the implementation of the Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) approach to the issues of juvenile crime, and enhancing coordination among various public and private agencies, as well as the community, in dealing with juvenile crime and juvenile offenders." The program is working to "reduce recidivism among juvenile offenders who are already involved with gangs, or 'at risk' of becoming gang affiliated" and to "reduce the levels of juvenile gang activity and the number of juveniles belonging to criminal street gangs." (The Chicago Juvenile Gang Intervention Partnership Pilot Program, page) Working collaboratively with other justice agencies and the community:  Police should participate in collaborative efforts between personnel in the justice system (adult and juvenile) and in the community. Participation on community or school task force groups which address gang activity and youth violence and cooperating and sharing gang-related information with juvenile and probation/parole officers are of paramount importance. A unified stance against gangs is more effective than having a police department stand alone.  Police administrators should foster collaborative and coordinated relationship between their agencies and community-based prevention or treatment agencies in order to facilitate the referral of violent and/or gang member youth to them. Caught early, many youth can be placed informally in community-based agencies and may experience a positive readjustment. Increased collaboration and cooperation should also increase the amount of information/intelligence there is concerning the gang situation. Taking a walk! Of the scores of gang unit officers I shadowed, only one covered his gang neighborhood beat on foot. Barry has been working gangs for about six years, although he's been a cop for nearly twenty. He does something he calls "Community Walks."  Community Walks involve taking local residents for walks through their own neighborhood and pointing out gang-related things to them (what the graffiti means, where they hang out, which houses have gang members in them, which stores are used to hide drug dealers' drugs). He believes this is an effective way of informing neighborhood residents, gaining their cooperation, generating intelligence, and reducing the gang presence. Over the course of three days Barry visited several business establishments in the downtown area. One of the business owners was concerned about gang members who were coming in his store and conducting drug deals. Some months ago Barry suggested the owner install security cameras inside the store and aim them at the entrance.  He told him to mount the cameras so they were conspicuous. Barry told me that "Three or four days after the cameras were installed he called me and said the gang members stopped coming in to the store. He was a very happy businessman!" Barry and I had lunch at a restaurant in the heart of the historic downtown square. One of the restaurant's owners joined us and told me about the difficulties involved in turning his bar/restaurant around over the past year. For nearly twenty-five years "It was a "dollar beer joint," she said, "patronized by local street people - a very undesirable population of drunks, prostitutes and drug dealers.  "It's been a struggle, but we are turning things around. Barry was very helpful early in the process by taking us [the waitresses, manager, and owners] for a walk around in the neighborhood, making us aware of what trouble looks like. Because of that, we could detect trouble and then report it to the gang unit. We always get a fast response and, working together, things are much better now." Using the federal Weed and Seed Program: Weed and Seed is "a strategy within the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs that incorporates community-based initiatives. It is an innovative and comprehensive multi-agency approach to law enforcement, crime prevention, and community revitalization.  "The strategy involves a two-pronged approach: law enforcement agencies and prosecutors cooperate in 'weeding out criminals who participate in violent crime and drug abuse, attempting to prevent their return to the targeted area; and 'seeding' brings human services to the area, encompassing prevention, intervention, treatment, and neighborhood revitalization. "A community-orientated policing component bridges weeding and seeding strategies. Officers obtain helpful information from area residents for weeding efforts while they aid residents in obtaining information about community revitalization and seeding resources." (Executive Office for Weed and Seed, 2000, page). Consider adopting an agency: Adopt an agency which promotes non-violence among local youth. The entire department can participate. Offer special and public recognition for officers, command personnel, and units that participate in these activities. The adoption may also include volunteering or contributing (i.e., labor, clothes, food, money) to that agency.

Many of the strategies presented above involve cooperation and collaboration between police and a variety of non-law enforcement entities. That's because most promising strategies for reducing gang activity and youth violence are collaborative efforts. As the gang situation gets worse, more and more law enforcement professionals are recognizing they can not deal with the situation alone and that a collective effort is potentially more effective.

Field Note: I learned the Dutch police have adopted a "New Perspective," as they refer to it in their training and literature. The old perspective was that crime problems, including gang activity and youth violence, were the private domain of the police. If there's a problem, the police will take care of it. The new perspective recognizes there are limits to what police can do alone and that they must work in concert with other agencies and organizations in the community to reduce criminality. Police departments have also hired social reformers and social researchers in hopes that they can assist in altering the social environment to reduce gang and youth violence as well as other forms of criminality.

Not all American police administrators or officers believe the community policing model or treatment-oriented approaches to the gang situation are worthwhile. Some are even hostile towards such an approach. They would rather use traditional law enforcement methods relying upon the wrath of the police, their power of arrest, and the correctional system as a means of reducing gang activity and youth violence.

Field Note: The gang unit member I was riding with ended his tour of duty early - it was a quite night. As we drove back to headquarters he told me how disappointed he had become with the kind of training new recruits to his department are now getting. "They're all touchy feely today," he said. " They've even changed the training for the Highway Patrol to be that way. They don't yell at the recruits anymore. You know, that used to make an officer tough. I mean, if you can't take it when someone yells in your face, calls you all kinds of names and stuff, then how are you going to make it on the streets as a cop!?"  These comments are from the same officer who said, when asked "Is there anything police are doing that they don't need to be doing so we could put more officers on the gang situation," he replied "Get rid of the community oriented policing stuff."

As I drove around the country, going from one police department to another, riding with the gang units and studying the gang situation, I asked myself a question - "What do 'kick-ass-type' cops do?" You know, cops that get tough and knock people around. As far as I could tell they alienated gang members and put other cops at risk of harm from the gang members they had insulted and abused earlier. 

By failing to discriminate between gang- and non-gang members, they also seem to alienate youths who, with a little more attention, could have been diverted from gang activity. They also make it more difficult for social agency personnel and probation/parole officers to win youths' trust and gain their cooperation and respect and foster in some youth a hatred for the entire criminal justice system and all of its practitioners.

Field Note: I attended a conference on gangs offered by a regional gang investigators association. One of the speakers was a thirty-three year veteran of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and a national G.R.E.A.T. trainer (he trains officers to teach the G.R.E.A.T. curriculum).   He told us that while his colleagues originally viewed him as one of their own, when he switched to being a G.R.E.A.T. trainer things changed. "They saw me differently," he said. "G.R.E.A.T. is not an enforcement effort, it's prevention oriented, and they were uncomfortable with that, so they were uncomfortable with me."

Many of the police with whom I interacted, however, fully supported alternative means of dealing with the growing gang phenomenon. The following scenario is not an uncommon one today.

One Community's Plan of Attack

One of the community's I visited experienced several drive-by-shootings while I was there. They took place in close proximity to one neighborhood's elementary school. Neighborhood residents called the police department and asked for a meeting at the school. Two days later nearly 210 local residents and five police showed up for the meeting.

Amidst accusations of poor policing and much ado about "bad kids," the police laid out a plan of attack which won the support of nearly everyone present.

1. The officers would visit with interested residents and help start a Neighborhood Watch program. 2. Several McGruff homes would be identified for use by neighborhood children during after-school hours in case of an emergency or at the first sign of gang activity. The children could find safe haven in those homes and report the activity to the police. 3. Local residents would work with Division of Family Services staff and juvenile officers from the county sheriff's office and conduct home visits to the homes of youths in the neighborhood who are creating problems. 4. The police would increase the use of bike control and increase covert and overt operations. Covert operations would include more surveillance in unmarked cars and overt operations would include increased marked car patrols. 5. A zero tolerance approach would be practiced toward any individual causing problems in the neighborhood (including city ordinance violations).

I checked back on that community one year later and learned drive-by-shootings had become a rarity, few children reported being hassled by gang members as they walked to and from school, and residents were making fewer calls for service to the police.

In summary, if law enforcement agencies are to respond to the gang phenomenon in a meaningful way, they, and the community they serve, must know that

Modern hybrid gangs do not operate by traditional gang rules. Their affiliation with gangs based in Chicago or Los Angeles is likely to be in name only. They tend to "cut and paste" gang culture from traditional gangs, and they may display symbols traditionally associated with several gangs

They may form alliances with rival gangs to carry out criminal activity, but their independent mode of operating makes them difficult for law enforcement to classify. Thus, it is very important for law enforcement agencies to recognize the diverse gang culture of hybrid gangs, to approach them without any preconceived notions, and to concentrate on their gang-related criminal activity rather than on their presumed affiliations with traditional gangs.

Every community—regardless of the presence or absence of hybrid gangs—should conduct a thorough assessment of its unique gang problem before devising strategies for combating it. (Starbuck, et al., 2001, page)

The police, however, are just one element in the justice system called upon to reduce gang activity and youth violence. Prosecutors and judges, too, bear a responsibility in this regard and are our next focus of attention.