Mayor Mark Begich – remarks
Gang Task Force Initiative
1:15 p.m.; June 8, 2005; Mayor’s Conference Room

Thanks for being here to help launch a community initiative to combat a growing problem in our city - gang violence.

The days of gangs operating only in large cities are over. A national survey conducted by the National Youth Gang Center in 2002 found that all American cities with populations of 250,000 or more reported a gang problem.

Anchorage is not immune. In the past 18 months, Anchorage has seen a rise in youth and gang violence.

Two self-professed local gangs, which law enforcement authorities have been developing intelligence on, have been involved in at least 30 felony assaults in recent months.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen high profile gang-related shootings in various parts of our city. We’re fortunate an innocent bystander hasn’t been hurt - or worse.

That’s why we’re here today. The impulsive and random acts of gangs put all of us in danger.

Today, we’re launching a five-point initiative to stop it:
• Intelligence gathering;
• Reorganization of police resources;
• Community education and support;
• Family involvement; and
• Tougher laws.

I appreciate the broad community support shown for this initiative as demonstrated by those here today. I’ll ask several of them to speak in a moment.

First, let me hit the highlights of our five-point initiative.
  
The first step we must take is improve intelligence gathering by law enforcement. Obtaining reliable information about gangs and their activities is vital for police and prosecutors to do their job. Working closely with state and federal prosecutors and other law enforcement agencies, APD is upgrading its “Gang Intel Unit” to meet this challenge.

Second is better focusing our law enforcement operations. APD is currently combining three detective units into a “Gang Task Force” for this summer. It will also include two members of the National Guard’s Counter Drug Support Program.

Other agencies also will be involved: the Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency, FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office and School Resource Officers. Chief Monegan will elaborate on this in a moment.
 
The third component of our plan is enhanced community education and support. We are stepping up our work with community groups, families, churches and schools to provide youth at-risk of becoming gang members and their parents, with programs and resources designed to divert them from gang activity.

To facilitate these efforts, APD will provide information to schools, business and community groups about the growing problem of gangs and how to combat them.

Fourth is better family support. We all know families are the key to getting children started in life on the right foot. Sometimes families don’t know what their kids are up to, especially when it comes to gang activity.

Several cities, including Sacramento and Los Angeles, have successful programs of notifying parents of juveniles under age 18 when they are identified as gang members or associates. We’re going to try that here, with APD notifying parents of their children’s involvement in gangs, and to work with them.

Finally, we’re taking a hard look at existing state and local laws and will recommend changes to better crack down on gangs. This could include enhanced punishments or sentencing for serious crimes that are gang-related or motivated.

We’re looking at tougher anti-loitering laws and revisions to landlord-tenant laws, with an emphasis on evictions due to dangerous criminal activities.

Our overall goal with this five-point initiative is simple: stop gang activity now before it gets out of control and further endangers the public.

Tomorrow I travel to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting where gang violence is one of the main topics. I’ll be finding out all I can about what other cities are doing to successfully crack down on gangs.

This gang initiative has been developed over the past several weeks, and we’ve had a chance to brief some community members on it in recent days.

I’m pleased many of them are here today to show their support, including representatives from the NAACP, from Bridgebuilders, the Public Safety Advisory Committee and others.

Let me ask several of them to speak:
o Chief Monegan;
o School Superintendent Carol Comeau;
o U.S. Attorney Tim Burgess;
o The Rev. William Greene of the NAACP;
o The Rev. Maga of the Voices of Polynesia; and
o Father Fred Bugarin, Anchorage Faith in Action and Congregations Together

###