San Diego’s D.A. Wins State Grant to Fight Street Gangs

The district attorney’s office has won a $1-million state grant to combat youth gangs.

Spokeswoman Linda Miller said Friday that the grant, awarded by the state’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, will permit the formation of a task force with representatives from the district attorney’s office, the Sheriff’s Department, the county Probation Department and the police departments in San Diego and National City.

The task force will target areas with high concentrations of gang activity, and the grant monies will be used to open an office and purchase equipment and vehicles.

“Many of the youth gangs have grown more sophisticated in their organization and have developed into small, organized crime cartels which sell and distribute drugs,” Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller said. “We needed an equally sophisticated task force to battle this dangerous activity.”

The task force will develop comprehensive profiles on each youth arrested in connection with gang activity, including photos, fingerprints and previous convictions, authorities said. That information will be made available to law enforcement agencies throughout the county.