Migratory Issues--

Cops Battle 21st Century Crime Gangs

By Jim Kouri CPP (07/30/05)

Law enforcement officers from communities unaffected by gangs until the 1980s or early 1990s often find themselves scrambling to obtain training relevant to what are called hybrid youth gangs in the 21st century. When gang-related training first became widely available in the early 1990s, it often emphasized historical information, such as the formation of the Los Angeles Crips and Bloods in the late 1960s or the legacy of Chicago-based gangs (the Black Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings, and Vice Lords).

As law enforcement officers learned about the origins of these influential gangs, they sometimes attempted to apply this outdated information in their efforts to deal with hybrid gangs in their jurisdictions. The assumption that new gangs share the characteristics of older gangs can impede law enforcement’s attempts to identify and effectively counter local street gangs, and actions based on this assumption often elicit inappropriate responses from the community as a whole.

Citizens may react negatively to law enforcement efforts when they sense that gang suppression actions are geared to a more serious gang problem than local gangs appear to present.

Because of uncertainty in reporting on problem groups such as "cliques," "crews," "posses," and other nontraditional collectives that may be hybrid gangs, some police department staff spend an inordinate amount of time trying to precisely categorize local groups according to definitions of traditional gangs.

When training law enforcement groups on investigative issues surrounding drug trafficking or street gangs, instructors must resist the tendency to connect gangs in different cities just because the gangs share a common name. If the groups engage in ongoing criminal activity and alarm community members, law enforcement officers should focus on the criminal activity, regardless of the ideological beliefs or identifiers (i.e., name, symbols, and group colors) of the suspects. This practical approach would circumvent the frustration that results from trying to pigeonhole hybrid gangs into narrow categories and would avoid giving undue attention to gangs that want to be recognized as nationwide crime syndicates.

The expanded presence of gangs is often blamed on the relocation of members from one city to another, which is called gang migration. Some gangs are very transient and conduct their activities on a national basis. However, the sudden appearance of Rollin’ 60s Crips graffiti in a public park in rural Iowa, for example, does not necessarily mean that the Los Angeles gang has set up a chapter in the community.

Gang names are frequently copied, adopted, or passed on. In most instances, there is little or no real connection between local groups with the same name other than the name itself. Gang migration does occur, however.

According to the National Youth Gang Survey, 18 percent of all youth gang members had migrated from another jurisdiction to the one in which they were residing. Although gang migration is stereotypically attributed to illegal activities such as drug franchising, expansion of criminal enterprises is not the principal driving force behind migration. The most common reasons for migration are social considerations affecting individual gang members, including family relocation to improve the quality of life or to be near relatives and friends.

Moreover, in the National Youth Gang Survey, the vast majority (83 percent) of law enforcement respondents agreed that the appearance of gang members outside of large cities in the 1990s was caused by the relocation of young people from central cities.

Thus, the dispersion of the urban population to less populated areas contributed to the proliferation of gangs in suburban areas, small towns, and rural areas.

Law enforcement professionals may not be able to differentiate among local gangs that have adopted names of the same well-known gangs from other locales but have no real connection with each other until they begin to interact with gang members through interviews, debriefings, and other contacts.

"Hybrid" versions will begin to display variations of the original gang, such as giving different reasons for opposing rival gangs or displaying certain colors. Investigators who take the time to cross-check their local gang intelligence with that of other agencies concerning gangs with identical names are likely to find some subtle and some glaring differences.

Source: Institute for Intergovernmental Research
National Youth Gang Center

Mexican Gangs Shoot it Out with Bazookas!- Mercury News

Gangs turn Nuevo Laredo streets into free-fire zones

By Susana Hayward
Knight Ridder

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Warring Mexican gangs fought a pitched battle with bazookas and grenades late Thursday in a middle-class neighborhood of this border city, terrorizing citizens who say they live in a ``Baghdad-like'' war zone.

The battle was so fierce that the U.S. ambassador in Mexico City announced Friday that he was closing the consulate in Nuevo Laredo until at least Aug. 8. The announcement called the battle ``an alarming incident'' that involved ``unusually advanced weaponry.'' U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said U.S. officials will use the week to assess security.

Heavy weaponry

For more than 30 minutes Thursday, the sharp report of automatic-weapons fire, punctuated by thumping explosions, could be heard throughout the city. After the fighting had ended, the street where the confrontation had taken place bore all the signs of combat. The house at the fighting's center was riddled with holes the size of melons. Part of it had collapsed. A building across the street was pocked with holes, indicating a fierce response with heavy weapons.

Hundreds of bullet casings from AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons littered the street. Cars, many with Texas plates, lay like victims, their windows shattered and their bodies scourged by bullet holes.

There was no official police version of the events Friday. Police said no one had been injured or killed, but splotches of blood stained the streets when a reporter and photographer arrived minutes after the shooting stopped.

The battle offered a glimpse of the challenge facing the Mexican police and army as they try to root out rival drug gangs battling for control of this critical border region south of Texas. Some 300 heavily armed soldiers in tanks, accompanied by state, city and judicial police and federal investigators, cordoned off the street while they inspected the devastated house and talked to neighbors. Most neighbors claimed they had heard nothing, even though the sound of explosions reverberated throughout this city of nearly half a million.

Those who did talk told a confusing tale of gunmen wearing the uniforms of the Federal Agency of Investigation, Mexico's FBI, arriving in front of the house at 2411 Mexicali St. in southern Nuevo Laredo, about two miles from the U.S. border, at about 8 p.m.

``Suddenly there were explosions; they launched bazookas and grenades and machine guns,'' said one man who witnessed the battle for about 20 minutes. Standing in a corner, the man pleaded that his name be withheld. ``They'll kill me. It's become so dangerous,'' he said before rushing off into the night.

Long gunbattle

Some neighbors said the fighting started earlier. ``My husband and I went out at 6 p.m. because we started hearing gunshots, but then there were more and more and more until it sounded like explosions, bombs, and we went back home scared,'' said a woman who would give her name only as Hilda. Hilda said she lives in the adjacent neighborhood of Guerrero, next to the Madero suburb where the fighting took place.

Police at the site said they found three AK-47 rifles, a grenade, two handguns, ski masks and hundreds of bullets of different calibers.

Authorities wouldn't comment on why they thought the house had been targeted. Some neighbors and police claimed it was a safe house used by drug smugglers or kidnappers.
The fighting was the sort of violence outsiders rarely see, but soldiers and police at the scene said it was daily fare. The U.S. State Department has issued a warning urging U.S. citizens to stay clear of border areas.

``Obviously, but unofficially, gangs, mafias are trying to establish control of this city and that's why we have this wave of violence,'' Juan Antonio Jara, the interim chief state police investigator, said Thursday afternoon, hours before the night violence.

Jara blamed the violence on outsiders.

Since January, more than 100 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo. Human rights groups say that in the past two years more than 400 people have been kidnapped, including more than 40 Americans. Authorities have said the violence is a war between Mexico's two most powerful drug gangs to control key routes.

Slashing Probed as Gang Attack in NY

Yonkers slashing probed as possible gang attack

By WILL DAVIDTHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: July 26, 2005)

Detectives yesterday were trying to determine if a weekend slashing — apparently videotaped by one of the assailants — was gang-related, police said.

A 26-year-old Yonkers man was slashed across the chest with a box cutter after a group of young men approached him, and one asked if the red baseball cap he was wearing signified that he was a member of the Bloods street gang, police from the 3rd Precinct said.

The man was walking near 85 Riverdale Ave. about 11:30 p.m. Saturday when he was attacked. He was treated at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers, where he received three sutures for the wound, police said.

Witnesses told police that one of the assailants taped the attack with a camcorder.

Detective Lt. Maureen Zadorozny said the department would not comment further on the slashing because it was under investigation.

No one had been arrested in connection with the incident as of yesterday.

Gangs Deface Police Memorial in Burbank CA

Gangs deface police memorial
Monday, July 25, 2005
BURBANK -- A pair of roadside signs honoring a slain Burbank police officer were taken down this week after they were defaced by gang graffiti that said "187," an apparent reference to the California Penal Code section on murder.

The signs on the Golden State Freeway dedicated to Burbank police officer Matthew Pavelka came down Tuesday, police spokesman Sgt. Jay Jette said.

David Garcia, an alleged member of the Vineland Boys gang, is awaiting trial in the fatal shooting of Pavelka, 26, on Nov. 15, 2003, in a hotel parking lot near Bob Hope Airport.

The number 187 can be interpreted as a threat, Jette said.

The tagging, which is being investigated, comes after law enforcement stepped up an investigation into the Vineland Boys street gang, which is suspected of widespread narcotics and firearms trafficking.

"Officer Pavelka paid the ultimate price for the service to this community and it's really just a disgraceful thing to have something like that defaced," Jette said./AP

New Jersey Police Officers Shot, One Dead Near School in Newark N.J.

JEFF GOLD
Associated Press Writer

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- One of two Newark school police officers wounded in a shooting Monday afternoon has died.

Officer Dwayne Reeves died at 5:25 p.m., according to Rogers Ramsey, spokesman for University Hospital in Newark. The officer had been shot in the head.

A second officer, Akhia Scott, 27, was treated for a gunshot wound to the hand and released, Ramsey said.

A suspect was also shot and was in serious condition at the hospital, Ramsey said. His name was not released. Broadcast reports said police were looking for a second suspect, but police would not immediately confirm it.

The shootings happened about 2 p.m. on the sidewalk outside Weequahic High School, according to Newark police spokesman Derek Glenn. Both officers were on duty and in uniform, he said.
Investigators were interviewing the less seriously wounded officer to determine the circumstances, Glenn said.

Initial reports indicated the shooting may have stemmed from a fight the day before involving two females. Broadcast reports said the shooter might have been a relative of one of the two girls, but police would not confirm that information.

According to Willie Freeman, director for security the Newark School District, the officers approached a car and ''there was a confrontation that took place and that's when they exchanged fire.''

Newark School Superintendent Marion A. Bolden credited the officers with containing a potentially dangerous situation at the school, which had just let students out after a summer school session. Reeves was a hero, he said.

''This young officer gave his life protecting the children of this school,'' said Bolden.
Reeves had worked in the district for several years and had just recently been assigned to the high school, Freeman said.

''He had an excellent temperament,'' said Freeman.

The shooting occurred about a block from the school's main entrance, near the school's football field and stadium.

Shortly after 5 p.m., a flatbed truck drove away carrying a white security car that had a shattered passenger-side window.

Blue examination gloves, like those worn by emergency medical personnel and forensics investigators, lay on the sidewalk. Shattered glass lay on Chancellor Avenue a few feet away.

Glenn said the two lawmen were trained by the Newark Police Department and had full police powers, but are employed by the school district. According to Freeman, they were assigned to the Weequahic school.

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee Commentary from the Houston Chronicle

July 23, 2005, 7:49PM
Wrong weapon to fight alien gangs
Proposed legislation outdated, ineffective

By REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE and DAVID COLE

Last month, the Justice Department issued a little-noticed report finding that, contrary to popular perception, gang violence has dropped dramatically over the past decade. The percentage of violent crimes committed by gang members fell by 73 percent from 1994 to 2003.

Yet, members of Congress are acting as if gang crime is exploding, and proposing laws that would repeat some of the worst sins of the past, from guilt by association to the resurrection of an attorney general's list of blacklisted groups.

The House has already passed one gang bill that, among other things, would make nonviolent misdemeanors grounds for deportation. And now Republicans have introduced the Alien Gang Removal Act (AGRA), which goes even further. It would give the attorney general virtually unfettered power to designate any of thousands of gangs in the United States, and would then make automatically deportable any foreign national deemed to be a member of such a gang.


The law would apply even to legal permanent residents who had never committed a crime. It would apply to young children, often the target of gang recruiting drives. And it would require us to return an individual to a country where he faced persecution, based solely on his perceived associations.

We agree that gang crime remains a problem, although the Justice Department's own statistics show that much of the rhetoric about the problem is hyperbole not grounded in fact. But we think the problem can be dealt with through existing laws, by focusing on gang members who commit serious crimes, rather than extending such harsh consequences to individuals who have never committed a crime in their lives.

Our country has generally relied on three strategies for dealing with youth gangs: suppression, which has meant longer criminal sentences and penalties; intervention, through job training, education and skills development in an attempt to reform gang members; and prevention, through school- and community-based programs designed to reach out to at-risk children before they become involved with gangs.

For instance, the Rev. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest in Los Angeles known as G-Dog or Father Greg, began Homeboy Industries in 1992, a job-training program to salvage the futures of gang members. Many of his employees had long arrest and prison records, and nearly all had no work skills. But Boyle and Homeboy Industries officials have counseled and found jobs for several thousand youths from 500 Los Angeles gangs.

Immigration law can also be an appropriate tool for targeting gang crime. Under current law, any foreign national gang member who violates the terms of his visa can be deported, as can any foreign national gang member who has committed a deportable criminal offense. Thus, where an immigrant gang member has broken the law, he is generally deportable under current law.

What AGRA would do is make immigrants deportable who had never violated the law, based solely on their alleged membership in a designated gang. That is guilt by association; it holds people responsible not for their own actions, but for the actions of others with whom they have associated.

We have seen this kind of approach before.

In the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, Congress made it a deportable offense and a crime merely to be a member of the Communist Party. At the same time, the attorney general created a subversive organizations list as the basis for imposing guilt by association even further.

The McCarthy era taught us a lesson: namely, that guilt by association, as the Supreme Court has said, is alien to the traditions of a free society and the First Amendment itself.

But apparently some have forgotten that lesson. Under this bill, the attorney general would again have a subversive organizations list. The gangs listed would have no right to challenge their designation by offering evidence that the designation was wrong. And individuals charged as members of the gang would be expressly barred from challenging the designation. It would be no defense to show that one had never committed any crime, or that one's gang had never committed a crime.

The politics behind such efforts also echo the McCarthy era. Sen. Joe McCarthy was driven as much by a partisan desire to paint his Democratic opponents as soft on communism as by any actual threat communists posed. So, too, today, nothing could be easier, as a political matter, than to go after alien gang members. But in responding to the problem of gang crime, we should be driven by facts and principles, not pure politics.

Jackson Lee, a Democrat, is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Houston. Cole is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington, D.C.

Latino Gangs Are a Huge Issue in U.S.

From the Voice of America. Click on the title of this message to be taken to the Voice Of America's web site. There is a great report on Latino gangs and their impact on the United States.

Steve

Anti-Loitering Laws vs. ACLU- editorial from the NJ Trentonian

Click on the title to read an editorial from New Jersey about their new anti-loitering law intended to cut down on drug dealers and gangsters.

Do you have an opinion? An opinion about using the civil courts to combat violent youth gangs?

If you do, leave it in the comment section for others to look at. Steve

Coming Soon to a Town Near You

From the National Youth Gang Survey.

Note to Murder Defendants-- Spit out the Gum- From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Gang member pleads guilty to murder
Man calls 2 nonfatal shootings ‘bad decision,’ says he ‘can’t explain’ killing

BY JOHN LYNCH ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

A gum-chewing Little Rock gang member who shot two men in a gas station parking lot called the September shootings a "bad decision" Tuesday, but couldn’t explain why he killed a third man five days later. Prosecutors said the shootings point to escalating gang violence in southwest Little Rock.

Marcus Mosely, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree battery and a single first-degree murder charge as jury selection began Tuesday morning in Pulaski County Circuit Court. His decision came after a 30-minute meeting with his parents and defense attorneys.

Prosecutors agreed to drop enhancements to the charges and withdrew an effort to revoke his probation regarding 2002 convictions for terroristic threatening. At the recommendation of Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Barbara Mariani, Mosely got 20 years on each of the battery counts to be served concurrently. He faced at least 10 years in prison and as much as 60 years to life on the murder charge.

"Bad decision" was Mosely’s only response when Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey twice asked him why he shot Marcus Wright, 23, and James Hill, 24, during a Sept. 20 altercation at the Shell Superstop at 1400 John Barrow Road.

Mosely, who chewed gum during the hearing, also couldn’t tell the judge why he shot and killed 24-year-old Wilmon Simmons five days later outside the Dirty Byrd Cafe at 1700 Wright Ave. just before 4 a.m.

Humphrey pressed Mosely, a Blood gang member, for an explanation of the killing after hearing the prosecutor describe how Mosely walked up to Simmons, a friend of Wright’s, and pumped three rounds into him as he talked to some people in a parked car.

"I can’t explain," said Mosely, bowing his head. "I just can’t explain, sir."

The shootings of Wright and Hill came during a heated argument over a woman between Wright and 28-year-old Douglas Lee Bennett at the Shell station, Mariani told the judge. As Wright cursed at Bennett, Mosely pulled out a pistol and opened fire. The bullets wounded Hill, who was seated nearby. Wright fled and was shot near a foot, Mariani said. He then ran to the Church’s Chicken a block south on John Barrow where Mosely shot him in the hand as Wright used a telephone to call for help.

Mariani and Marianne Satterfield, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney, speculated afterward on a motive for Simmons’ killing: a case of mistaken identity. Mariani said Mosely just walked up to Simmons and opened fire without saying a word, wounding him in both legs, with a fatal shot to the chest.

"Our theory is he had mistaken him for Wright," a member of the rival Folks gang, the prosecutor said. "We can’t prove that, but that’s [the way] it appears from the evidence."

Satterfield said the shootings showed that gang violence is growing in southwest Little Rock. She noted Bennett would have been Mosely’s co-defendant in the Sept. 20 shootings, but he was found shot to death Nov. 29 in the parking lot of Boyle Park in a slaying prosecutors said Tuesday was gang and drug related.

A passer-by discovered Bennett’s body lying next to a 1992 Chevrolet Caprice with its engine running in the parking lot of the park’s basketball court. Several shell casings lay scattered around the car, and a loaded .45-caliber gun was found under the driver’s seat. No one has been charged in the killing.


This story was published Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Copyright © 2005, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.

Victorville, CA Former Gang Members Work with Youth

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Ex-gangsters try to break cycle by working with youth

By KAREN STAPLEY/Staff Writer

Former gang members are working with "at-risk" youth to educate them about the dangers of gang life and what alternatives are available through a program called Gang Reduction Intervention Team.

GRIT aims to provide a positive and stimulating environment for students during a twelve week program which tries to build the self esteem of students.

GRIT defines at-risk youth as those who have displayed inappropriate behaviors, criminal or drug activity. The target population includes youth who have have been suspended from school or who are on probation or parole.

Students are taught gangs are not the only option. Classes include anger management, leadership building, gang realities, STD education, CPR and a class called "Is college a possibility?""

We have come back to teach youngsters not to walk that way," Joseph Rodriguez an instructor and former gang member said. "We will teach them how to stay away from drugs and gangs." Rodriguez said there are many myths and misconceptions about belonging to a gang."They think belonging to a gang is glamorous," Rodriguez said."There is a myth that being a gang member is a life time commitment," Rodriguez said. "I am an ex-gang member who is now a registered nurse."

Rodriguez knows all too well the dangers of gang life.

"I spent most of my life in jail until my late 20s," Rodriguez said.

"It is a generation thing," Rodriguez said. "I got into heroin because of my father. He got into gangs because of his father."

Rodriguez aims to break the cycle "even when it is acceptable at home."

"Gangs may be frowned on but is considered OK (in some families)," Rodiguez said.

The program has sites in San Bernardino, Fontana, Rialto and Moreno Valley. There is not one in Barstow at present.

GRIT will take seven 16- to 17-year-old men on a camping trip to Ventura for three nights and four days.

Rodriguez said the students will learn valuable leadership skills and participate in group activities."We will be talking to youngsters about what it takes to be a man," Rodriguez said. "And how to say no (to drugs and gangs) when everybody else is saying yes."

GRIT aims to challenge certain preconceived ideas students may have — like college being an unobtainable goal.

"We get them to look at it another way," Rodriguez said. "I ask them tell me why you think you can't go to college. They always reply 'I don't know.'"

"I want to try to help keep kids out of jail," Rodriguez said. "We need to change their attitude not just lock them up."

Rodriguez said more money should be spent on prevention programs rather than spend more money on police and prisons.

Sgt. Doug Hubbard of the Barstow Sheriff's Station said deputies are aware of the program and know to refer people who could benefit to the program."These programs offer a lot of great things," Hubbard said. "Any program showing an alternative to the gang lifestyle is very worthwhile."Hubbard did have one reservation: "They have to be a willing participant to benefit or they won't."

"We don't claim to have all the answers but we have a lot of experience," Rodriguez said.

City Year Gives and Gets

From Left to Right: Peter Pickus, Executive Director of City Year Little Rock, Mike Neuhofel, Director, North Little Rock Boys and Girls Club and Mayor Patrick H. Hays of North Little Rock chatted recently during the City Year Cyzygy National gathering in central Arkansas. City Corps Corp members settled over our communities with a wonderful blanket of giving and energy. City Year is a great way for a youth 17-24 to give back and, as one CY corps member said to me one day, "I've gotten much more than I've given." That is a testament in itself. To learn more about City Year, visit www.CityYear.org or click on the title of this message. Steve

High Schools Let Kids Down- NY TIMES

July 16, 2005

Students Say High Schools Let Them Down

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

DES MOINES, July 15 - A large majority of high school students say their class work is not very difficult, and almost two-thirds say they would work harder if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to an online nationwide survey of teenagers conducted by the National Governors Association.

The survey, being released on Saturday by the association, also found that fewer than two-thirds believe that their school had done a good job challenging them academically or preparing them for college. About the same number of students said their senior year would be more meaningful if they could take courses related to the jobs they wanted or if some of their courses could be counted toward college credit.

Taken together, the electronic responses of 10,378 teenagers painted a somber picture of how students rate the effectiveness of their schools in preparing them for the future.

The survey also appears to reinforce findings of federal test results released on Thursday that showed that high school seniors made almost no progress in reading and math in the first years of the decade. During that time, elementary school students made significant gains.

"I might have expected kids to say, 'Don't give us more work; high school is tough enough,' " said Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat and chairman of the governors association, which opens a three-day summer meeting here on Saturday.

"Instead," Mr. Warner said, "what we got are high school students actually willing to be stretched more. I didn't think we'd get much of that."

The governors' survey was conducted as part of the association's effort to examine public high schools and devise strategies for improving them. Mr. Warner has made high school reform his priority as chairman of the association. His term ends on Monday, when Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican, is scheduled to succeed him.

While a vast majority of respondents in the survey, 89 percent, said they intended to graduate, fewer than two-thirds of those said they felt their schools did an "excellent" or "good" job teaching them how to think critically and analyze problems.

Even among the remaining 11 percent, a group of 1,122 that includes teenagers who say they dropped out of high school or are considering dropping out, only about one in nine cited "school work too hard" as a reason for not remaining through graduation. The greatest percentage of those who are leaving, 36 percent, said they were "not learning anything," while 24 percent said, "I hate my school."

Experts in education policy said the survey results were consistent with other studies that have shown gaps between what students learn in high school and what they need for the years beyond.

"A lot of business people and politicians have been saying that the high schools are not meeting the needs of kids," said Barbara Kapinus, a senior policy analyst for the National Education Association. "It's interesting that kids are saying it, too."

Marc Tucker, president of the National Council on Economic Education, an organization that helps states and school districts create programs that are more tailored to contemporary student needs, said he did not believe that American high schools could adequately prepare students without a fundamental change in how they operated.

Mr. Tucker said American schools had been too slow to adapt high school curriculums to the real-life demands of college and the workplace. Except for that small fraction of highly motivated students with an eye toward prestigious private colleges and state universities, many more students, he said, are under the impression that just having a diploma qualifies them for the rigors of college and the workplace.

In Houston ICE gets Hot Against MS-13

Feds: Two more MS-13 gang members arrested in Houston

04:02 PM CDT on Friday, July 15, 2005
From 11 News Staff Reports

HOUSTON -- Two more MS-13 gang members are in custody, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Houston.

William Orlando Lima-Hernandez, 25, a citizen of Guatemala, was picked up at a construction sight off Kirkwood Dr. in Houston. ICE agents say records show he is here illegally and has been deported before.

Luis Alfredo Garcia-Calderon, 25, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested Monday when he was unable to provide U.S. Customs agents with the proper documentation during a routine checkpoint inspection while on a bus headed for Corpus Christi, Texas.

Officers say both admitted that they had affiliations to the MS-13 gangs, and were in the country illegally.

ICE agents arrested the suspects as part of an ongoing national initiative called Operation Community Shield, designed to combat the violence in communities associated with street gangs.

“We will continue to use our immigration laws as a tool to remove these gang members from the United States,” said Bob Rutt, ICE’s special agent-in-charge. “We will not let known gang members from other countries to sneak into the U.S. to avoid prosecution in their native countries.”

ICE has gathered thousands of names of known and suspected gang members from state and local law enforcement, and is comparing those names against immigration databases to determine immigration status and deportability. ICE can also investigate the money laundering, narcotics smuggling, financial crimes and other cross-border crimes typically committed by street gangs.

To date, Operation Community Shield has led to the arrest of hundreds of alleged gang members nationwide, including more than 400 alleged members of the violent street gang Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13.

Gang Interventionist Shot and Killed in Dallas- Dallas Morning News

Slaying blamed on gangs

Dallas: Teens charged in death of woman in drive-through lane

10:47 PM CDT on Friday, July 15, 2005

By MICHAEL GRABELL and HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News

Sara Linebaugh devoted her spare time to fighting gang violence. She was killed by a stray bullet as she waited for Chinese takeout. And now police have learned that she was the random victim of the very thing she tried to prevent.

Why Ms. Linebaugh was shot two weeks ago outside Wok Express on Buckner Boulevard was a mystery until Thursday night, when Dallas police arrested two teenagers they suspect were involved in a gang-related gunbattle nearby.

Police believe the shooting stemmed from a fight in late May at Samuel Crawford Memorial Park in Pleasant Grove. A month later, the teenagers' friends spotted a car driven by rivals.
Police said Ramiro Angel, 19, and Pedro Valdivia, 17, borrowed a friend's purple Ford Mustang and a .44-caliber Magnum revolver, then trolled the streets looking for the guys from the fight.

According to court documents, Mr. Angel and Mr. Valdivia saw them in a maroon Nissan Altima. They chased them to a CVS Pharmacy near the intersection of Buckner Boulevard and Lake June Road.

Mr. Angel fired a shot that penetrated the car's rear bumper. He fired again.

But this time the bullet traveled more than 50 yards across the parking lot and the four-lane boulevard and pierced the windshield of Ms. Linebaugh's Ford sedan as she sat in the drive-through.

"By God's will nobody else got shot," said homicide Sgt. Ken Lecesne. "There are kids outside playing, and they have a running gunbattle going. They just have no regard for nobody else."

Two days later, Ms. Linebaugh, 52, died at Baylor University Medical Center from a gunshot wound in the head.

Homicide detectives arrested the teenagers about 9 p.m. Thursday at their homes in the 7100 block of Barrett Drive. They found the revolver at the home of Mr. Angel's uncle in Quinlan, about 45 miles east of Dallas, police said.

Mr. Valdivia admitted driving the Mustang, and Mr. Angel admitted firing the shots, court documents said. They were charged with murder and held in Dallas County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

They could not be reached for comment.

Ms. Linebaugh, a Richardson Hebrew-school teacher, started several crime watch groups and received a commendation from the Dallas police chief. The 5-foot-3-inch mother, who also managed apartments, was known to patrol the grounds herself, even at 2 a.m.

"She would tell guys to throw their beers away and go home," her daughter Ronit Frydberg said. "She shooed them away. She wasn't intimidated."

For Ms. Frydberg, news of the arrests allowed her to take a deep breath for the first time since her mother's death.

"It doesn't replace anything or how we feel," she said. "But it does make us feel better that no one else gets hurt by them."

Ms. Linebaugh was a bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah teacher for more than six years at Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest temples in Dallas.

Ms. Frydberg said what upset her the most was that the teenagers took her mother "from the world over a petty argument that accomplishes nothing because they're still fighting."

Ms. Linebaugh found decency in everyone, including the gang members she battled against, Ms. Frydberg said.

"She sees the good in people and doesn't want them to ruin lives when they have gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd," she said.

How her mother became the accidental victim of gang violence infuriates Ms. Frydberg.

"There could have been a kid in the car," she said, her voice cracking. "Because they want to be immature – they have no common sense. I hope they see her face and remember what they did."

YIKES! Gang and Terrorist Link in LA? from the LA TIMES

2 Men's Ties to Group of Extremists Investigated

By Greg Krikorian
Times Staff Writer
July 15, 2005

Counterterrorism officials are investigating the possibility that two men recently arrested in a string of South Bay gas station robberies may have been part of a local group of extremists with ties to prison or street gangs, local and federal law enforcement authorities said Thursday.

Although there is no evidence of a specific terrorist plot, law enforcement officials say materials recovered at the South Los Angeles apartment of one robbery suspect, Levar Haney Washington, 25, suggest that an attack might have been planned at any of nearly two dozen addresses, including National Guard recruiting facilities, two synagogues and a building believed to be the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles.

During an extensive search of Washington's apartment last week, authorities said they found no explosives or bomb-making materials, but did recover some bulletproof vests and undisclosed "jihadist" materials not readily available via the Internet or other public sources, as well as the list of addresses that appeared to be unlikely targets for a simple robbery.

Washington, a Rollin' 60s gang member who was convicted in Orange County in 1999 of assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and belonging to a street gang, converted to Islam in prison. His alleged accomplice, Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, who has no criminal record, is believed to be a more recent convert.

For several years, the FBI and other federal agencies have been investigating prison gangs to determine what role, if any, they are playing in converting prisoners to radical interpretations of Islam.

Raising investigators' suspicions was their discovery that Patterson, until recently, worked at a duty-free gift shop at Los Angeles International Airport's Tom Bradley International Terminal, where another possible target on the list, El Al Israel Airlines, has its ticket counter.

Patterson, who worked at the airport shop for about six months, left the job early this year.

Sources said there was no evidence that he was at the airport to survey it as a possible target.

Instead, they said they are investigating his time at LAX because the airport has long been known as a terrorist target and the El Al ticket counter was the site of a July 4, 2002, rampage in which an Egyptian immigrant shot and killed two bystanders.

A week after the FBI confirmed that its Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the two Muslim converts for possible links to extremism, authorities emphasized Thursday that the fast-moving investigation was still in its early stages.

At the same time, several sources said there is a possibility that others could be arrested in the case. Unlike the ongoing federal investigation in Lodi, Calif., where authorities suspect at least two individuals supported terrorism by attending overseas training camps, the probe of Washington and Patterson is specifically aimed at determining whether they were involved in plotting a terrorist act, law enforcement officials said.

Last week, Torrance police arrested Washington and Patterson in connection with a string of gas station robberies from May 30 to July 3. The arrests occurred during a stakeout by detectives, and subsequently led to a search of Washington's apartment on West 27th Street.

There, authorities said, they discovered what was described as "jihadist" literature, as well as documents with the addresses of numerous sites, including National Guard locations and the "Consulate of Zion." Authorities surmise that is a reference to Israel's consulate in Los Angeles, since the list allegedly found in Washington's apartment was of Southern California locations.

Last week, a California National Guard spokesman confirmed that officials there had been notified of potential threats to their facilities.Calls to the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles seeking comment were not returned Thursday.

After their arrests, Washington and Patterson were arraigned in Torrance Superior Court on nine counts of robbery and one count of attempted robbery. A judge also set bail at $1 million for Patterson and $2 million for Washington.

On Thursday, the attorney for Patterson said that although he knew about the federal investigation by the anti-terrorist task force, he had not been presented with any specific allegations by the FBI or any other agency against his client."I am well aware there is a federal investigation going on," said Winston McKesson, Patterson's lawyer. "And I really believe that once this investigation is complete, it will be crystal clear … that my client was not involved in any terrorist plot."He is a good young man, an honor student who has never been associated with any gangs. His parents are both upstanding members of the community and this is all a shock to them."

Washington's attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jerome Haig, also said he had not received any indication that his client will be charged with crimes other than the robberies."All I have right now are police reports involving robberies," he said. "And there was absolutely nothing in the police reports that was even remotely related to the things that are now being discussed" in the media.

Times staff writer David Reyes contributed to this report.

Yo- Comrade- Russian Youth Gangs

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/07/15/youthterror.shtml

Click on the title or go to this link to learn about Russian youth who are street gangsters. Ahh, McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi and Crips! We've successfully exported some of the best of our American culture.

California Grand Jury: Schools Must Deal With Gangs- freelancepress.com

Grand Jury says schools must get tougher on gangs
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
By Brett Rowland

Hollister - The new civil grand jury report recommends local school districts develop a formal plan to address the issue of gang prevention, but school officials say such programs are already in place. The report said gang prevention and intervention efforts varied by school and district, and that formal parental gang prevention information and training programs were non-existent.

The grand jury recommended Hollister School District, San Benito High School, the County Office of Education and the San Juan Unified School District all submit plans to the grand jury addressing gang prevention.The recommendation was based on information obtained by questionnaires sent by the grand jury to 16 local schools and community organizations.

The report said there had been some 144 gang-related incidents on school property over the last three years, but added that the number was understated because some schools had failed to provide accurate numbers. About 80 percent of the incidents happened at San Benito High School, according to the report.

San Benito High School Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said she never completed the questionnaire or talked to anybody on the grand jury, but said it was possible someone else from the school had. Slater said the number of gang-related incidents reported to her were far lower than those stated in the grand jury report, but said discrepancies could have been caused by different definitions of the term.

In the 2003-2004 school year only 16 major gang-related incidents were reported Slater said.

That number dropped to 8 the following year.“We know that we’ve had a drop in gang activity,” Slater said. “I just don’t know where (the grand jury) got this information.”

Slater, who attends every community gang meeting, said San Benito High School has always addressed gang problems, employing Jose Ibarra, a student support manager, to focus on the issue.

Last year teachers gave a school-wide lesson on harassment to all students, which Slater said also helped spread awareness about gangs because harassment was a popular gang activity. A similar program focusing on respect will be taught next fall.

San Benito High School also offers after-school tutorials that focus on prevention and actively teaches students about gang-related problems.“We always address this kind of activity,” Slater said. “We really feel like we’ve been reducing gang-related incidents on campus.”

With help from the Hollister Police Department and Probation Department, the school also offers an intensive 11-week Impact Program that targets students with high-risk behaviors.

Slater said the program had been very successful in past years.For Slater, the problem is not just with high school students; the whole community needs to focus on prevention of gang activity.

Slater said the school will continue its efforts, but will not implement a new gang prevention program.“We can’t focus on their whole lives,” Slater said. “But we can help them and give them better educational opportunities.”Slater said city’s gang problem may stem from high unemployment rates and suggested an economic solution.“If we, as a community, offer more employment opportunities to our young people this problem can be reduced,” Slater said.

Tim Foley, county superintendent of schools, said gang-related incidents were not a new problem. He said the county will continue to address the issue of gang prevention. Foley believes the grand jury was unaware of the county’s efforts to prevent such activity at the student level. “Perhaps the grand jury did not realize the extent that these programs are already in place,” Foley said. “We shall, of course, make a formal response detailing our efforts to suppress and prevent gang activity.”

Grand Jury Foreman Jack Cocchi could not be reached for comment by press time.

The Gangs of Minnesota prompt an Editorial from the Star Tribune

Editorial: Cutting crime/Put a sharper focus on gangs
July 12, 2005


It is a frustrating and familiar cycle: Just when it appears that inner-city neighborhoods are making progress against crime and gang-related violence, another wave resurrects the worries. So it goes this summer in the Twin Cities. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul police are ramping up efforts to address another uptick in violence.

This latest rash raises questions; what lessons were learned from previous bouts with gang crime and violence? Why is progress tough to maintain? How can neighborhoods tamp down the trouble and make it stick?

While a "silver bullet" solution is nonexistent, many law enforcement and community experts stress vigilance on several fronts.

For starters, they urge that pressure be kept up through peaks and valleys in crime statistics. It's comparable to having a roach problem -- just because you don't see any for a few weeks doesn't mean you should stop your pest control service.

But with persistent gang and drug-related crime, the ongoing effort involves a combination of proper police staffing, aggressive community policing and observant neighbors who collaborate with cops. The strategy must include prevention, especially activities or employment for boys and young men who might otherwise choose gang life. And reining in this brand of crime means that those who know the criminals, including family and friends, must report them for the greater good of the community.

And as Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak points out, gang violence is driven by drugs and money. The larger community must recognize that those who buy the drugs are also part of the problem.

Both core-city police departments are responding. During the past two weeks, Minneapolis officials announced a series of initiatives, including foundation donations to expand rec center hours. And when homicides in several North Side neighborhoods increased during the winter, the department introduced the Strategic Tactical Operations (STOP) program in April. The 50-officer unit is designed to quickly saturate any area of the city. Working with the city and police on the summer strategy is Chuck Wexler, a nationally known crime expert.

St. Paul police are wisely mounting similar efforts, recently organizing a special unit to tackle growing concerns over gang activity. Like Minneapolis, St. Paul officers are seeing increased graffiti and a new dynamic: a wave of brazen violence caused by younger members of small, less organized gangs. That suggests getting to children at earlier ages and diverting them to positive activities is more important than ever. So in addition to enforcement, the unit will work with community organizations to give children alternatives to gangs and help current members leave the lifestyle.

Foundation donations to preserve summer programs are crucial; more nonprofits and businesses should step up to that challenge. Through various city programs, Minneapolis put more than 1,100 youth to work this summer, but needs the ability to do more. Gov. Tim Pawlenty's recent veto of youth jobs programs certainly won't help. As a result, Minneapolis has lost the ability to employ another 160 teens this summer.

Law enforcement crackdowns come with the territory when crime levels rise. However during better times, the community and police cannot let up -- proper staffing levels must be maintained. As we have argued before, a force of 788 sworn officers is not enough to police a city of 350,000.

It is not enough when the number of Minneapolis homicides has risen nearly 50 percent over last year -- from 20 up to 31. It's not enough when innocent bystanders are hit by flying bullets while eating in a restaurant or sitting in their own homes. It is insufficient when nearly 100 guns were seized by officers during May, the highest ever in a single month.

All metro-area residents have a stake in reducing or solving this problem. Government, foundations, businesses and churches must redouble efforts to punish the bad actors and support those who can be salvaged. As Rybak said, "This whole community needs to unite to out-recruit the gangs."

Indiana Gang Opinion

Click on the title for an editorial about Indiana gangs.

Dateline Los Angeles

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Narajo found a 13-year-old guilty of murder for beating another teen to death with a baseball bat after his team lost its opening game of the season.

Biggie News

A mistrial in the Notorious B.I.G. wrongful death case means the rap star's family won't get immediate answers about his slaying, but they can file a new lawsuit seeking to link his unsolved 1997 killing to a Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal.

A Most Excellent Website

Click on the title to be taken to www.StreetGangs.com one of the best information sites on the web.

About Mr. A. Alonso, the site author:

Mr. Alonso has been researching gangs in Los Angeles and throughout the United States for several years and has developed a unique perspective on gangs through his ethnographic observations. He is familiar with the active gangs of New York during the 1970s, and he has studied in depth the structure and history of organized crime in New York and New Jersey. Most recently he has written on the history of Los Angeles contemporary gangs.

Safe Passages,
Steve

Gangs from the Virginian Pilot

More on gangs: history, laws, resources, signs

The Virginian-Pilot© July 4, 2005

Gang history & culture

- To be labeled a gang by Virginia law, a group must have at least three members and a name or symbol. One of its primary objectives must be crime, and it must commit at least two – one of them violent.

- By “qualifying” for gang status, members who commit gang-related crimes can be charged under the state’s new, stronger anti-gang laws.

- Gangs, mostly homegrown, surfaced in Hampton Roads around 1987. National gangs trying to get a local footing hailed mostly from the West Coast back then. These days, police say, that threat comes more from New York and New Jersey.

- Some gangs, like the Bloods and Crips, are a loose coalition of independent chapters, or sets. Others, like the Gangster Disciples, operate much like a business – with national expansion plans and a board of directors.

- Initiations can require a mission. In extreme cases, they require an innocent victim — such as Derald Guess. A youth minister moonlighting as a cab driver, Guess picked up a handful of young men on Dec. 8, 2004 in Edgewood, Md., 45 minutes north of D.C. One of the men shot Guess, a father of nine, in the temple as part of his initiation into a Blood set.

- Experts say today’s gangsta rap has helped promote the thug image. In 2002, The Clipse recorded a song called “Virginia” with Pharrell Williams, a Grammy Award-winning producer from Virginia Beach. The song invites gangsters to come to the Commonwealth, where, according to the lyrics, crack can be sold for “triple price.”

- The main reason kids join gangs: protection, status, excitement, sense of belonging, money and peer pressure. Surveys say gang members tend to range in age from 12 to 24 years old; most expect to be dead before 25.

- Some gangs try to force kids to join. On Dec. 16, 2004, on a Norfolk school bus, a handful of Crips tried to recruit a student. The boy refused. When he got off the bus, the Crips followed, knocking him to ground, where they hit and kicked him in the head.

- Bloods and Crips find many ways to disrespect each other. Bloods draw a line through every letter “C” they encounter; Crips do the same to the “B.”

- If a breakfast includes Froot Loops cereal, Bloods won’t eat the blue loops, because blue is the chosen color of Crips; Crips won’t eat the red, for the same reason.

- Gangs communicate, advertise and antagonize with a secret language of colors, tattoos, hand signs, symbols and body language. East Coast gangsters often “bang to the right” – hats tilt to the right, bodies lean to the right, arms are folded right over left. West Coast gangsters do the opposite.

- Tattoos can indicate gang, rank, specialties and deeds. Different patterns of dots and lines testify to robbery, larceny or murder. Scars tell their own tales. “Dog paws” – three dots arranged in a triangle and usually burned into the skin with a cigarette – brand the wearer a Blood.

New anti-gang laws

Virginia anti-gang legislation that went into effect July 1:

House Joint Resolution No. 573: Directs the Virginia State Crime Commission to study the characteristics and makeup of criminal street gangs to help in the prosecution of gang members.

HB 1800: Defines as murder the premeditated killing of anyone as a membership requirement for a criminal street gang, or at the order of someone in a gang.

HB 2217 or SB 1217: Provides enhanced punishments for gang activities taking place at or near schools, colleges and school buses. The bill allows a witness in a gang prosecution to request that certain information about the witness not be disclosed. This bill also adds to the list of crimes defined as “predicate criminal act” the following: assault by mob, reckless handling of a firearm, extorting money, shooting from a motor vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm in public areas in certain localities, possession of a firearm, stun weapon or taser on school property.

HB 1573: Directs the Board of Education to include provisions addressing gang-related activities in its model guidelines for codes of student conduct. Bill patron David B. Albo (R-42nd District) said it will allow schools to be even more stringent in not allowing students to wear colors, brag about their gang affiliation, etc.

Source: http://legis.state.va.us/ — the Virginia General Assembly Web site

Who to contact

If you suspect gang activity or want more information, contact:
- The Virginia Gang Investigators Association at www.vgia.org
- The Hampton Roads Crime Line at (888) 562-5887 (LOCK-U-UP)
Online resources
These Web sites have useful gang-related information:
- The National Youth Gang Center: www.iir.com/nygc/default.htm
- The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center: www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/gangs.asp

Gang warning signs

Parents should be concerned if their child:
- Seems obsessed with one particular color of clothing.
- Comes home with unexplained bruises/injuries/burns.
- Withdraws from family, loses interest in school.
- Develops unusual desire for privacy and secrecy.
- Uses hand signals with friends and practices them at home.
- Has a new nickname.
- Has a particular tattoo such as: five- or six-pointed star, pitchfork, MOB
- Has unexplained money or goods.
- Has gang graffiti on school books, folders or bedroom walls.
- Has a new fear of police.

Source: The Virginia Gang Investigators Association; National Alliance of Gang Investigators Associations

A Duck's a Duck- From Lafayette Daily Advertiser

Article published Jul 2, 2005

Violence-prone group could be gang forerunner

Law enforcement officials are investigating what is described as a loosely organized group of about two-dozen young men who are believed to have been attacking people at random in the Acadiana area. There is a possibility that gang activity is developing here. It is essential that it be stopped while still in the "loosely organized" stage.

Officials have responded quickly to violence believed linked to the groups. After receiving a tip, Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Department officers moved in on the scene of a potential battle between opposing groups. A search of the vehicles at the scene had disturbing results. Deputies found bats, sticks fashioned as clubs and a Taser on the front seats of the vehicles. They appeared to have been placed for quick access.

The same group, according to the Sheriff's Office, may have been involved in acts of violence such as running vehicles off the road and vandalizing property, as well as launching physical attacks. There is a possible link to a stabbing at a local restaurant.

The department is avoiding the use of the word "gang" in relation to the group because at this point it appears to lack the characteristics typical of organized gangs. Fortunately, a close watch is being kept and investigations conducted by local law enforcement agencies and state police. This type of concerned watchfulness is essential. A loosely organized group committed to violent acts can quickly turn into an organized gang.

The public should also be on guard. Parents should know the early signs of gang involvement. A national organization called Youth Opportunities Unlimited cites behavioral changes in young people that can indicate such involvement. They include a decline in grades, truancy, graffiti on school folders and clothes or in the youth's room, wearing of a certain style or color of clothes, breaking of curfew, changing friends, drug and/or alcohol use, or possession of money or items that a parent cannot explain.

Involvement of a child with a group of friends in delinquent or criminal behavior may be another sign. Some gang members devise hand signals to communicate with other gang members, the organization says. Use of such signals should alert parents.

Hopefully, the quick action by law enforcement agencies has lessened the potential for one local group to develop into an organized and dangerous gang. The group's activities, however, are a warning sign. Development of gangs in our community is a threat that must be blocked. The entire community must be on guard.

Some Really Really Old News About Nawojczyk

State EMT Association is formed
Hot Springs Sentinel-Record
Circa 1978

170 emergency medical technicians (EMT’s) from across the state met here Saturday and formed the Arkansas Emergency Medical Technicians Association.

Goals for the new organization include input into legislative policy decisions and a standardization of care across the state, said Steve Nawojczyk, the organization’s new president.

At the present time, Nawojczyk said, only a few EMT’s have input into policy making through the governor’s advisory board on emergency health services. Without feedback from an organization like the AEMTA, the board has no way of knowing exactly what the technicians across the state want, he explained.

The association hopes all of the state’s 4,000 EMT’s will join, he added. That way every area will be assured of up-to-date care equal to anywhere in the state or nation, he explained.

The state is divided into five districts, he said. Each region will elect a representative to the board of directors. The five regional chapter’s presidents will also represent that area on the board.

Six “at large members” will also be directors, he added. These members, elected here Saturday will serve as founding members.

The six members at large are Steve Dozier, Jonesboro; David Cramer, Diamond City; Dan Keithley, Little Rock; Ed Edney, DeWitt; Paul Robbins, Hot Springs; and Dan Watts, Jacksonville.

Statewide officers were also elected. They are president, Steve Nawojczyk, Hot Springs; vice-president, Gary Medley, Fayetteville: secretary, Connie Rosenski, Jacksonville, and treasurer, Jerry Clark, Hot Springs.

The AEMTA plans future affiliation with the National Emergency Medical Technicians Association, Nawojczyk said.

“This will give the association lobby representation not only at the state level but also with congress.”

“We want all the state’s EMTs to know what’s happening in Graham as well as Little Rock,” Nawojczyk said. “Then we can have a standardization of care across the state.”

Enid, Oklahoma Gangsters- Enid Newspaper

Click on the title for a news story about gangs and crime in small Enid, Oklahoma.
Most of the story is clipped below:



A 20-year-old Enid man and four others, including a teenager, were arrested after a shooting, drug bust and attempted kidnapping Friday.

No one was hurt, but police are calling the incidents gang-related.

Roy Dean “Scooter” Smith, 20, was arrested after a woman reported he threw a brick through her windshield while she was in the car with another adult and three children. She also told police she heard “pops” and later found bullet holes in her car after the 11 a.m. incident in the 900 block of South Grand, according to Enid Police Department Sgt. Bryan Skaggs. Police would not release the names of the victims.

The victim reported the incident to two off-duty lawmen who approached her later while she was parked in the 5400 block of East Garriott. She told police Smith assaulted her and described the vehicle he was driving. Enid police found ammunition in the street at the scene and arrested Smith after a traffic stop in the 200 block of East Garriott. He was arrested on complaints of possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction, driving under suspension and no insurance.

“All we know is the victim claims she was driving by ... they threw a brick at the windshield. She heard pops (and) found bullets in her car,” Skaggs said [...]

Garden State Gangstas- from The Trenton Times

Survey: Gangs entrenched

Friday, July 01, 2005
By KEVIN SHEA Staff Writer

It's not a new development, but it is a growing problem: Criminal street gangs have become entrenched in New Jersey, their numbers are rising and they present a serious threat to public safety.

A New Jersey State Police survey of nearly every municipal police department in the Garden State was unveiled yesterday, providing statistical teeth to and a sobering profile of how many criminal street gangs there are, their location and how they operate.

The survey indicates about 16,700 street gang members are operating in New Jersey in about 700 different gangs. The well-known Bloods, Latin Kings and Crips make up the three largest populations, and those three gangs alone make up over half, 51 percent, of the estimated statewide gang population.

The gangs infect every type of community, from urban cities like Trenton to rich suburbs like Princeton and smaller, formerly rural hubs like Hightstown.

Of the 16,700-member gang population, an estimated 2,300 are under the age 15. And about 17 percent of all reported homicides in the state involve gang members.

In Mercer County, the survey says, about 900 gang members operate in 23 distinct gangs. And the county mirrors the state, with police reporting the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings most frequently.

State Attorney General Peter Harvey and state police Col. Rick Fuentes offered comments on what needs to be done to combat gangs, and two doctors who spoke with them offered a view of the gangs from outside the law enforcement community.

Choosing the gang life - or "thug life," as one called it - will only end with instances of fatal gunshot wounds, paralyzing injuries, prison terms and ruined families and communities.

"The report is out," emergency room physician Dr. Duane Dyson said at the survey's unveiling. "And I've never been more in disgust or seen more despair since the crack wars of the 1980s."

"This is a public health emergency," said Dr. Robert Johnson, director of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
-- -- --
No teenager is immune from the grasp of street gangs, and no young person is bulletproof once they are in a gang, they said, suggesting the problem must be recognized in the education, community and health-care arenas.

"Our focus should be on prevention," said Dyson, chairman of the Violence Prevention Institute in East Orange. Emergency room physicians, Dyson said, are busy enough dealing with heart attacks and strokes.

Dyson said he would like to stop having to say to parents: "Your son has died of a gunshot wound."

There may not be a quick solution, Dyson and Johnson said, but dealing with gangs must become a statewide priority. "This took a generation to get here, and it could take a generation to turn it around," Dyson said.

Johnson said he wished he could inoculate children against gang involvement, but no such shot exists. "We need to strengthen families and strengthen communities. Stepped-up enforcement efforts alone, no matter how vigorous or well-intended, will not get the job done."

From his office down to the level of a local police department, authorities are developing programs designed to offer children alternatives to gangs, some of which are making a difference, Harvey said.

But despite the programs and the successful arrest and prosecution of gang members who commit crimes, the number of gangsters is on the rise. "New Jersey continues to have a significant problem with street gangs and related community violence," Harvey said.

Other highlights of the report, conducted in 2004 and completed by 91 percent of the 479 municipalities that have a full-time police department:

-- In 44 percent of the municipalities in which an active street gang presence was reported, gang activity was reported by police to have increased compared to the previous year.
-- In 37 percent of the municipalities reporting no street gang presence during a similar survey done in 2001, gang activity is now taking place.
-- In 39 percent of responding suburban municipalities, police reported the presence of gangs, an increase of 27 percent compared to the 2001 survey.
-- -- --
In Mercer County, half of the 10 towns that participated in the survey reported a gang presence: Trenton, Ewing, Lawrence, Hightstown and Princeton Borough.

Those reporting no gang presence were East Windsor, Hopewell Township, Pennington, Princeton Township and West Windsor.

Hopewell Borough, which is patrolled by Hopewell Township police, was not surveyed, and Hamilton and Washington townships did not respond to the survey, the state police said.
Hamilton was listed in the report as the most populous municipality in the state not to participate, but a Hamilton police spokesman insisted the agency did send in the survey.

In 2003, three homicides in Mercer County were labeled as gang-related, the survey said. And four of the 10 participating departments also reported gang-related incidents in their schools: Trenton, Princeton Borough, Hightstown and Ewing.

The Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, 18th Street Gang, Five Percenters and the Pagans motorcycle gang all have multiple chapters, the survey said. But 17 gangs are listed as solo and they have a variety of names.

Some are well-documented, such as Neta, the Salvadoran gang MS-13, the Breed motorcycle gang and the White Diamonds, a Trenton gang. Other Mercer gangs include Black Top, Boon Dog Outlaws, Hava-stack, Two Guns Up, and Vatos Locos.
-- -- --
The state police yesterday announced one plan. Noting in the survey that many police departments report more of a gang presence but only about 25 percent have a database to track them, Fuentes said the state police would bolster its intelligence efforts and local police will have access to that information.

Fuentes has transferred 20 troopers into an intelligence unit where most will work in the Regional Intelligence and Operations Center, known as "The Rock," at the Ewing headquarters.
The center, which went online in February as a pilot program, blends criminal intelligence reports and other information for officers on the street.

By August, every law enforcement officer in the state will be able to access The Rock, even as they pursue a car on the highway. The center currently includes more than 15,000 state police gang intelligence reports, and local police will be able to send intelligence they gather back into The Rock.

"And that's huge, in terms of intelligence," Fuentes said. "It's going to connect the dots on gangs, and we think it's going to save lives."

NOTE: Contact Kevin Shea at kshea@njtimes.com or at (609) 989-5699.
© 2005 The Times of Trenton