Teams Shuffled : Police Widen Effort to Curb Street Gangs

Anti-gang detective and uniformed units in the Los Angeles Police Department are being reorganized to find better methods to thwart the city’s recent surge of street violence.

Police officials said Tuesday that the reshuffling this week of detectives and officers of the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit in the South Bureau is part of a larger experiment to determine the most effective use of manpower in gang-plagued areas.

Since Jan. 1, more than 50 people have been killed or wounded in gang-related violence in the city.

Increase in Numbers

The changes increase the number of the unit’s uniformed officers from 54 to 73. Those numbers will be maintained, police officials said, by sending new officers from patrol divisions into the CRASH unit every three months, giving them experience in dealing with gang members.

Under the reorganization, the unit’s four detectives are being transferred to the four patrol stations that make up the department’s South Bureau--Southwest, Southeast, Harbor and 77th Street divisions.

A more sweeping restructuring took place in January, when 45 officers and detectives--the entire staff--of the Central Bureau’s CRASH unit were portioned out to five police divisions. Another CRASH unit in the San Fernando Valley has been decentralized for several years.

Police officials explained that the moves will spread responsibility for the prevention of gang violence to all patrol officers and detectives, and no longer just the specialists who work in the CRASH units.

Question of Responsibility

“The biggest problem with the centralized CRASH units of the past was that they allowed the uniformed generalist off the hook from going after the gangs,” said Assistant Chief Robert Vernon, in charge of operations. “Patrol officers could drive by gang bangers and not stop to question them. They figured that was CRASH’s job and not their responsibility.”

Officials expect that with CRASH veterans working out of patrol divisions, some of their expertise will rub off on colleagues. And by bringing in uniformed officers to work on gang cases for three-month stints, police officials hope they, too, will become familiar with gang members’ habits and activities.

Vernon said the changes are not now being considered for all CRASH units. The West Bureau CRASH unit, which took charge of the controversial investigation into the Westwood gang slaying of Karen Toshima last month, remains centralized, at least for now.

At the South Bureau CRASH unit, Detective Verne King said most officers support the reorganization. “The workload has been too great for the detectives down here,” he said.

Signs of Dissent

But some CRASH veterans in other divisions said the moves are leading to poor morale, particularly among anti-gang specialists who fear that decentralization will make it more difficult for them to effectively combat street violence.

“I’m afraid we’re spreading ourselves too thin,” one CRASH officer said. “It’s the wrong time to flail around like this.”

Department officials said they recognize the disadvantages of decentralization, but remain convinced that new tactics are necessary.

“This is giving us more numbers on the street, and I think it’ll make for stronger investigations,” Vernon said. “We’re trying to clone the CRASH specialty to all our patrol officers.”