Tougher Drug War, More Jails Urged as Gang Violence Soars

To stem the rising tide of gang-related murder and other crimes in Los Angeles County, there must be increased targeting of drug traffickers and abusers, construction of sorely needed new jails and continued emphasis on youth education programs, law enforcement officials said Friday.

But the record number of such crimes in 1989, both in the city of Los Angeles and throughout the county, should not prompt a public panic that such crime is beyond control, Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Fred Nixon said.

“I really think it would be a very big mistake to believe that the city is in the grips of this gang situation to the extent that we’re helpless and the situation is hopeless,” Nixon said. “That is not the case.”

Figures released Friday show that in 1989, gang-motivated homicides--defined as deaths resulting from gang activity--rose 20% over the previous year in the city of Los Angeles, with total gang-motivated crime up about 30% for the same period. In addition, attempted murders directly related to gang activity in the city were up 68.3% over the previous year, Nixon said.

Across Los Angeles County, gang-related killings in 1989 were expected to hit 570, an increase of about 26% over the previous year, by the time data from all police agencies is calculated early next week, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Wes McBride said.

Officials define gang-related killings as those in which either the assailant or the victim is a gang member. But those homicides do not necessarily result from gang activity.

But those numbers should not be cause for alarm or a change in enforcement tactics, some police officials say.

“There is nothing in these numbers that suggests to us that we should do anything dramatically different in our enforcement efforts,” Nixon said. “What has to happen is a continuation of this national attitude of intolerance for drug trafficking and drug use. Because we know that these things contribute to our overall picture.

“We need additional jail space so that any crime, not only involving gang members, but other criminals, carries with it the possibility of real time in jail.

“We need to continue with education programs such as the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program. Our youth need to be taught how to resist peer pressure and how to identify value systems that will sustain them.”

Some officials have blamed worsening turf and drug wars between area gangs for the rise in gang crimes. Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block disagreed.

“I don’t think that’s factual at all. In 1981, when crack (cocaine) was not even on the scene, we had 351 gang homicides in Los Angeles County, which then was an all-time record,” Block said. “The reality is, most gang killings are either in retribution for a prior act of violence, or simply because an individual or individuals were wearing the wrong kind of clothing, were in the wrong part of the community or said the wrong thing.

“I think we have in our midst hundreds of sociopathic individuals who have little or no respect for themselves, and consequently little or no respect for others,” Block said.

The answer, Block said, is not just tougher enforcement but more positive alternatives for young people that can satisfy the same need for belonging that gangs do.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said another big factor for escalating gang crime is the difficulty of keeping offenders off the street once they are arrested.

“What we’ve got is a situation where I can’t get anybody in the County Jail to stay. (Sometimes) I can’t get them in there at all,” Gates said of the growing problem of jail overcrowding.

“You look at the crime (statistics) and the (increase) is in auto thefts, burglary thefts from autos . . . robberies. Those are the people we pick up off the streets, stick in the County Jail and then release them. (We) don’t have any room.

So they (those arrested) go out and do some more (crimes) before they go to trial, and maybe (are sent) away to prison or a jail sentence.

“But all that time they are out there capering. They’ve got to pay their attorneys, they’ve got to live, so they are out there raising the crime rate,” Gates said.

However, Block, who operates the jails, insisted that no suspects charged with felonies are released because of overcrowding.

Law enforcement officials say about 70,000 people are affiliated with about 600 gangs in Los Angeles County. About 36,000 of those are concentrated in the city’s 467.2 square miles.

As for people who have criticized the Los Angeles Police Department’s mass arrests last year as ineffective in the long run in containing and eliminating crime, and would cite the 30% increase in total gang-motivated crimes in 1989 as evidence, Nixon said: “I shudder to think where the numbers would be if we were not making those efforts.”

GANG CRIMES INCREASE

Los Angeles police on Friday released new figures that show a dramatic increase in the number of gang-motivated crimes--defined as those resulting directly from gang activity. Statistics released earlier this week listed all gang-related crimes, which include any crime involving a gang member as a victim or suspect.

1989 1988 CHANGE Total crimes 3,992 3,065 30.2% Homicide 168 140 20.0% Robberies 665 556 19.6% Felony assault 2,394 1,881 27.2% Attempted murder 569 338 68.3% Rape 18 28 -35.7%

SOURCE: Los Angeles Police Department