By Kathy Amoroso
February 3, 2003

"I want people to be able to speak freely about problems with gang violence in their cities," Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn told the group of mayors assembled at a workshop on Gang Crime and Domestic Terrorism at the 71st Winter Meeting of the Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., on January 22. "We-ve experienced a recent spike in gang activity and a related spike in gang-related homicides in Los Angeles, and we can't minimize the problem. We need to find some viable solutions to the problem and address it right away."

Speaking with his new Chief of Police, William Bratton, Mayor Hahn outlined three objectives for the session: 1) to increase awareness of the rising gang and domestic violence problem in cities nationwide; 2) to recruit mayors and police chiefs to establish a comprehensive set of policies that work to combat these problems; and 3) to assemble a core group of city representatives to go to Congress and the Administration to lobby for resources to address the growing problem.

"Street gangs cross state lines and break federal laws," Hahn said. "We need the federal government and federal law enforcement agencies to step in, partner with us and help cities facing these kinds of domestic crime issues."

Hahn also described how he reorganized the Los Angeles Police Department into Neighborhood Service Area Cabinets to specifically address the gang problem. He brought in the city's Building Department to demolish boarded up buildings that serve as havens for gang activity, and expanded After-School prevention efforts as a key deterrent.

Los Angeles Chief of Police William Bratton then addressed the session saying, "Crime is a constantly changing paradigm. I have seen major shifts in the paradigm in thirty-plus years in law enforcement. When I first entered law enforcement, the police were focused on responding to crime. This reactive investigations model was a failure. The philosophy of community policing which developed in the 1980's and became widespread in the 90's focused on utilizing community resources to fight crime and disorder. Community policing is now going to be tested to include anti-terrorism with a focus at the national level. Resources are diminishing as priorities are shifting, but we cannot lose sight of domestic issues."

"I have seen urban terrorism firsthand in L.A.," he continued, "homegrown terrorism." Bratton expressed his belief that new gang terrorism must be quelled again to ward against an epidemic crime problem. Los Angeles has seen a fifty percent increase in the homicide rate in the past two years to 658 murders, and there are over 1,000 known gangs in Los Angeles County, and over 400 in the city of Los Angeles.

"The whole department is reorganizing to focus on gang violence," Bratton told the mayors. "As federal funding in crime prevention has decreased, gang-related crime has increased in a direct correlation. we're going to shift our focus to stop the problem before it becomes an epidemic."

Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith told the session that investments in After-School programs are key. "A child involved in a faith-based program can be saved," he said, adding, "We need to focus on COPS reauthorization, as well as receiving more information on COMSTAT and other crime-fighting technology."

Gary Mayor Scott King acknowledged some success in reducing homicides in his city from 136 in his first year in office to 60 this past year, but added, "we make a mistake if we characterize the perpetrators of gangs across the board as morons. Gang members commit crime for money, recognition and a sense of belonging. And it's easier to get a gang summit together than to get all of the law enforcement agencies and resources together. We had six gang task forces in Gary and none of them were talking to one another. It took Janet Reno to force the FBI, ATF, Secret Service and U.S. Marshalls to get together. It was because of this dedication by the federal courts and U.S. Attorney that we-ve had this success."

Mayor King continued to explain that suspects can be detained in Gary on federal drug counts and because of federal sentencing guidelines bond is denied and jail time is guaranteed. Gary's Uniform Task Force would pull up on the scene and disrupt gang activity which moved it indoors to houses, and made lock-up quicker, cleaner and easier. National Guard construction teams would then tear down these drug houses afterward. "Support from federal law enforcement is key," he stressed.

Costa Mesa Mayor Libby Cowan asked participants how small cities can keep the gang problem out. "Seventy percent of police chiefs said that After-School programs was their number one priority for crime prevention," Bratton responded. "The minute you see a gang problem, quash it!" he added.

The Director of the Cerritos Workforce Board, John Crawley, then asked Mayor Hahn to chair a task force of elected officials to work on the problem. "Workforce board funds could be used to mitigate the gang problem," he said. "Our money gets tied up at the state level, but police departments and the local electorate could help to free up these funds and utilize them in crime prevention."

Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill stressed that graffiti is the first step. "Our level of tolerance for it has got to stop," she said. "We have to take a stand on the regional gang problem." Charleston Mayor Joe Riley agreed. "Numerous approaches to the gang problem are essential," he said, "but national resources do matter." Riley urged mayors to get the message to Washington that diminishing resources available to combat the problem will lead to an explosion in crime. "A big impact was made by the use of federal task force resources, and from a national standpoint these federal resources are impacted by the war on terrorism. We have to let the federal government know that domestic crime issues need to be addressed."

Rochester Mayor William Johnson warned about the exporting of gang problems to smaller cities when parents send their problem kids to smaller cities, hoping to stop their criminal activity. "We need to create a better information system to let school systems know of the dangers these kids present to them," Mayor Johnson said.

In closing the session, Mayor Hahn promised to continue the discussion within the Conference and prepare a report on the issue.