A story in this morning’s LA Times gives an intelligent, nuanced glimpse of some South LA gang unit officers who seem to demonstrate the kind of policing that we’d all like to see more of in this city. The writer, Joe Mozingo, and photographer Barbara Davidson also include a video as part of the story and unlike some of the Times earlier efforts, it works pretty well, and genuinely augments the printed reporting.
Here’s an excerpt:
…Los Angeles Police Department officer, Ryan Whiteman, turns down an alley where a gray-haired man in a maroon velour tracksuit is standing in a carport.
“Rudy, I know you don’t live here,” he says. “Why are you over here?”
Whiteman opens his door and hears the clink-clink of glass on asphalt. He drops his head. “Rudy, I know the sound of a crack pipe dropping. Give me that pipe!”
Rudy sheepishly walks it over. Whiteman shakes his head. “I just wanted to talk to you,” the officer says.He scribbles out a citation as he wheedles information out of the man.
Whiteman is in the vanguard of a push to target hard-core gangs, not with sweeping paramilitary force but with aggressive, targeted enforcement by officers who know the players in the hood.The mayor’s office and the LAPD are promising to consolidate thinly scattered anti-gang resources and pour them into 12 beleaguered neighborhoods — gang reduction zones — where intense suppression would be coupled with gang intervention and prevention programs.
That coupling reflects an epiphany of sorts, with law enforcement now voicing a refrain that has long been the lonely cry of civil libertarians and community activists: Street gangs are a social phenomenon that cannot simply be bludgeoned out of existence.
“What we’ve really had in the past is a mass incarceration strategy,” said Jeff Carr, L.A.’s deputy mayor for gang reduction and youth development. “We’ve locked a lot of people up and we still have this epidemic problem.”In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that gang reduction zones would be the linchpin of his plan to overhaul the city’s anti-gang efforts. The goal is to build a network of agencies and nonprofits to lock up hard-core gangbangers, break cycles of retaliatory violence and keep troubled kids off the precipice.
So far eight of the zones are running, with only the law enforcement part in place. The prevention and intervention side of the equation has been in disarray for years, with programs dispersed through different departments and never evaluated to see if they worked.The mayor is vowing to change that…..
When Bill Bratton talks abut policing smarter not harder, this appears to be a move in the direction of what he means, officers who are focused on the true troublemakers, not the people on the fringe. With luck the officers have gotten to know (and hopefully like) a community well enough to know the difference.
(photo by Barbara Davidson, LA Times.)
Gang members need to learn that drugs kill.
Albert Hofmann, father of LSD, dies at age 102
These is how you stop gang violence.
LA County will take part of the anti-gang funding and allocate the money over to the East LA Taco Trucks – specifically East and Northeast LA.
Any gang member who refuses to unload on the enemy’s hood will get all you can eat tacos compliants of the roach coach – free of charge.
It will be called, “Taco Prevention and Intervention Program” (TIPP).
Gang members can meet up with local Social workers, mental health workers, Parole agents, probation officers, and your local LAPD GET Team. All over a nice taco de Tripas or Buche.
Does this count as an animal story?
For better parts of town, there will be crêpe vans, and, for the best parts, wine and cheese limos. That way, people in the bad parts of town don’t have to feel bad that they were singled out.
Found this in the Daily News Opinions:
Dep_Chief_Moore_ LAPD
Los Angeles, CA
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#18
Thursday May 1
Regarding your Editorial asserting that the pending San Fer Gang Injunction casts too large of an area as a safety zone, I strongly disagree. The San Fer gang is a 700+ member organization that “claims,” as its turf, the entire communities of Sylmar and the City of San Fernando, and demonstrates the willingness to dispatch violence to anyone who would “disrespect†them or attempt to move into their turf. The proposed safety zone is meant to provide immediate relief and lasting protection to the communities in the northern San Fernando Valley from the impact of a violent and multi-generational street gang.
Critics of this injunction also assert it will trap those on the edge of gang life and stigmatize entire communities. We believe the injunction, in concert with aggressive prevention and intervention services already in place, can redirect otherwise wayward youth away from the gang lifestyle. Nothing in this injunction would keep a teenager from competing in sports or engaging in other productive endeavors. However, gang membership should not be trivialized. Those individuals groomed into joining gangs need more than moral encouragement; they need consequences for their acts of vandalism, intimidation and violence. This injunction would also allow law enforcement to work with intervention services with those individuals just entering the gang lifestyle, before they become hardcore. As for an exit strategy, its simple, leave the gang and stay out of trouble for five years. This injunction is not a trap; it’s a tool.
This injunction is also meant to protect the quiet neighborhoods included in the safety zone that border pockets of street violence and narcotic sales. Gang members are as mobile as anyone else and this particular gang has demonstrated its willingness to commit acts of violence on other suspected gang members and innocent people alike throughout the northern San Fernando Valley. Rather than control a small set of streets and blocks as other gangs do, San Fer’s reign of influence is far reaching. They cross far distances to commit street robberies, burglaries and narcotic sales to pay taxes to Eme, a powerful prison gang, also known as the Mexican Mafia. To attempt to scale the safety zone to individual blocks would dot the nearly nine square mile area with hot zones that the San Fers have shown the ability to defeat. The impact of the larger overarching safety zone immunizes these surrounding communities as much as it seeks to address the most blatant public display of this gang’s presence in the more troubled neighborhoods.
We are joining with the District and City Attorney in the pursuit of this injunction to improve the safety of all of the neighborhoods in Sylmar and the City of San Fernando, not merely push the gang from one block to the next. Five years from now, I predict with this injunction in place we will see an improved quality of life for all. Rather than home buyers seeing graffiti and gang members congregating in front of their potential homes, potential buyers will see a significant reduction in blatant gang blight. Home values will benefit as an extension of that.
The article in Sunday’s edition on the pending San Fer Injunction said in part, “Under the injunction…San Fer members could not associate in public places and could not act as lookouts or be in the presence of controlled substances. It also would place them under a strict curfew and prohibit them from owning spray paint or anything that can be used for graffiti.” That is exactly what is necessary and will improve the safety and quality of life for all those who live in Sylmar and the City of San Fernando.
I hope the residents of Sylmar and the City of San Fernando will trust that this injunction and its identified safety zone will provide law enforcement with a valuable tool, allowing us to better protect everyone.
Michel R. Moore, Deputy Chief
Operations Valley Bureau
LAPD
BTW, note what Dep Chief Moore says about the San Fer gang committing crimes far and wide specifically “to pay taxes to Eme…”
Elsewhere, it’s been documented that Dep. Chief Moore’s cops in the Valley have ID’d some 100 gangbangers last year and turned them over to ICE, while Dep. Chief Sergio Diaz, who you note is more “well liked” than his predecessor, didn’t turn over any, although his jurisdiction includes Glassell Park and areas with a huge concentration of illegal gangmembers. As you probably know, Dep. Chief Moore is hugely popular among the residents of the Valley.
WBC, both Mike Moore and Sergio Diaz are very good guys. Moore will probably be one of those short listed when Bratton leaves (although, for a variety of reasons I’d not bet on him to be the next chief, having nothing to do with his worthiness. There are a number of worthy candidates). Diaz has no such ambitions (to my knowledge). They are both smart men, excellent leaders, and savvy strategists. Central Bureau and Valley Bureau are very different areas with different problems and constituencies—as both Moore and Diaz would tell you.
PS: Thanks for posting the Moore letter. Injunctions, when enforced judiciously, have proved to be very helpful.