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| Plans in works to curb gangs in Tacoma |
| By thenewstribune.com |
| Published: 05/26/2009 |
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STACEY MULICK; The News Tribune Gangs are continuing to grow in Tacoma, prompting police to rework and bolster their plan for fighting them. “What we are doing isn’t working,” assistant police chief Bob Sheehan said recently. “The number of gang members is increasing and we’ve got to do something about it.” He estimates more than 1,800 youths and adults in Pierce County are gang members or associates. That’s up from 1,300 five years ago. Most of them live in Tacoma with the youngest known gangster a fifth-grade student, Sheehan said. To significantly reduce gang-related crime, the city needs a balanced and well-coordinated approach that includes prevention, intervention and suppression, Sheehan said. That’s more than the police department can handle alone, he said. “We cannot do this without the support and help of the other agencies,” Sheehan said. “We are trying to get to the root of the problem.” He’s urging a community-wide drive that would pair police initiatives with other efforts to prevent youths from getting involved in gangs and intervene when they do. He wants other city agencies and community organizations to help develop a plan. As for the police department’s contribution, Sheehan is working on a revised plan for how the department will address gang activity. He’ll present the plan to the City Council and community in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the department has launched two initiatives to zero in on youngsters who might be flirting with joining a gang and who might be convinced to take another path before becoming too entrenched in the gangster lifestyle. Police are targeting underage drinking parties and finding teens violating the city’s curfew. Police officials have adopted Puyallup police’s approach to party patrols. Those officers respond to reports of loud parties, which sometimes involve gang members and alcohol and escalate into violence. Tacoma officers have conducted missions on two weekends since late April and made 55 arrests of underage drinkers and hosts suspected of providing the booze, police Lt. Bart Hayes said. The patrols will run through the summer. To help enforce the city’s curfew, police sent out teams of officers in a pilot project last summer. Minors are violating the curfew if they are in any public place or establishment from 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Exceptions are allowed if the minor is with an adult, guardian or family member, or is going to or from work, official school programs, religious events or other activities supervised by adults. Youths out after curfew are taken home or, if a crime has been committed, taken to Remann Hall juvenile detention. To help pay for the party and curfew efforts, the department is using some of the more than $1 million it received this year in federal grant money. Officials have earmarked $99,118 to pay for overtime for officers working the missions. Another $120,000 has been tabbed for a truancy-prevention program with the Tacoma School District to target kids who are not in school when they should be. “We are going to concentrate on this,” Sheehan said. The department made fighting gang violence a priority in 2006 after gang rivalries started escalating, drive-by shootings riddled the East Side and a shooting involving two rival gangs downtown left one teen dead and another paralyzed. Commanders developed a plan that involved setting up a full-time gang unit, teaming with area law enforcement agencies to share information and resources and holding community summits. An emphasis was placed on the East Side, then later the South End, because that’s where the bulk of the gang activity was happening. The department also takes part in monthly meetings and emphasis patrols with other Pierce County law enforcement agencies to target known gang activities and riddled neighborhoods. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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