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Multi-City Crime Task Force Develops Strategies
By
Gary Walker
Bulletin staff writer
Following
a well-publicized press conference featuring the Rev. Jesse
Jackson and a host of regional dignitaries, the Multi-Cities Task
Force has
taken initial steps toward developing a coherent strategy in
their fight to reduce crime and poverty in the southeastern region
of the
county, according to members of the team.
Elected officials, members of law enforcement and several religious
leaders were on hand April 7 to join an effort to stem the tide of gang
violence that has plagued their neighborhoods and robbed families of their
young men and women.
The participating cities are Compton, Long Beach, Paramount, Carson
and Lynwood. Compton and Lynwood in particular have seen a rash of homicides
in the first three months of 2005. According to statistics from the Sheriff’s
office, over 25 murders have occurred in Hub City and its eastern neighbor
from January through March. At the time that this story was being written,
all of them remain unsolved.
All the cities that are involved in the task force have struggled
with the epidemic of gang violence. The brazen midday murder of Demitrius
Williams, a Long Beach high school student, shook that city to its core.
An arrest has been made in Williams’ murder, and another suspect,
Compton resident José Gallegos, remains at large as of this writing.
Last Friday, more than 100 men and women participated in a demonstration
against gang violence in a Long Beach westside neighborhood that has been
hit hard by senseless killings and shootings. The so-called “Mile
of Men” protest was organized to support “residents and business
plagued by the senseless shootings, territorial aggression and antagonistic
posturing” of gang members living in the area, said Pastor Gregory
Sanders of The ROCK Christian Fellowship. The demonstration took place
near the site of Williams’ fatal shooting.
Carson City Councilman Mike Gipson attended the press conference
in Compton, and like others, he feels that no one escapes the aftereffects
of crime unscathed. “Even though this hasn’t spilled into Carson,
it affects our neighbors,” Gipson said. “This is not just another
press conference or candlelight vigil or march. We will sit down to find
a way to prevent crime from taking place on the streets. We are killing
off a generation.”
A week following the press conference, members of the task force
convened at the Carson Community Center for their initial discussion on
how they would proceed with their ambitious agenda. That meeting was primarily
designed to develop strategies and initiate a dialogue around finding workable
solutions to the regional problems that affect all of the assembled cities,
said Lynwood Councilwoman Leticia Vasquez.
“We all understand that it takes resources to address these problems,
and one of our primary goals is to bring resources and public services
to our neighborhoods so that young people have other alternatives,” she
said.
Capt. Eric Hamilton of the Compton Sheriff’s Dept. attended the first
session. “Each city presented the group with information concerning
their respective programs that are designed to combat crime,” he
informed the Bulletin via e-mail last week. Hamilton did not go into specifics
regarding said programs. He referred a reporter’s questions to Compton
City Councilman Isadore Hall III.
The group met again recently, and “it was a great meeting,” according
to an enthusiastic Vasquez. “I think that it was very productive
in the sense that everyone realizes that this is not specific to any one
area- (gang killings) are a regional problem,” she added.
Public safety has been at the forefront of the minds of many Compton
residents, as well as those who are seeking political office. Both candidates
for the Third District council seat, incumbent Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux
and challenger William Kemp have emphasized their credentials as public
safety advocates.
Arceneaux, a three-term council member, was appointed to revive a
multi-agency task force on crime in March by Mayor Eric Perrodin. The councilwoman
has publicly stated that the effort by the assembled law enforcement agencies,
including the Los Angeles County Dist. Atty.’s Office, the Drug and
Enforcement Agency resulted in a “proven 30% drop in crime during
the time that the task force was established in 1995.”
“We need the community to be our eyes and ears,” she said in
an interview after the task force was convened in April. “We, as
elected officials and law enforcement cannot do it alone.”
When it was disbanded four yeas later, the councilwoman said that
she was “very disappointed.” Although she is not a member of
the Multi-Cities effort, Arceneaux is supportive of any organization or
individual that is attempting to fully address not only the end result
of gang violence and poverty, but also its origins.
That was one of the principal components of Jackson’s April speech.
He compared the state of affairs in many urban neighborhoods to the case
of Terri Shiavo, the Florida woman whose husband legally had her feeding
tube removed after a 15-year long coma.
“When they cut off Terri’s food, she died,” the civil
rights leader recalled. “When you pull the plug on education, on
teacher pay, on public service, on Medicare and Medicaid, people die. When
you
cut off the feeding tube, people die.”
Kemp, who was named “Public Safety Man of the Year” by the
Professional Peace Officers Assn., hopes that the newly created effort
to halt violence and the underlying social ills in and around Compton prove
to be more fruitful than previous efforts. “I hope that (the task
force) will find some solutions to what is one of our biggest problems
not only in Compton, but most inner-city neighborhoods,” said Kemp,
echoing Vasquez, Gipson and others who insists the issues of crime and
poverty are intertwined and not relegated to only handful of communities. “But
it’s important not just to talk about the problems, but to take action
on them,” he added.
Vasquez feels that the nascent task force has an added advantage
of having a well-connected legislator its side. “Assemblyman Mervyan
Dymally will be working with us to sponsor legation to allow us to get
some of the financial resources that are vital to continuing or establishing
these much-need services,” Vasquez, who is a senior field representative
in Dymally’s Compton office, said proudly. “The assembly member
is very interested in helping and I know that he can and will deliver,” the
councilwoman added confidently.
Hall, who represented Compton at the press conference where the task
force was announced, did not return calls at press time.
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