National Tracking of Gangs Proposed : Crime: Federal funds would be used to establish a system based on programs operated by the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s departments.

Using Los Angeles gang-tracking systems as a model, Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) introduced federal legislation Thursday to establish a program to keep an eye on gang members nationwide.

Both the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department maintain computerized records of local gang members--logging more than 80,000 names--and frequently find themselves sharing information with police officials around the country who fear that the notorious Southern California gangs may have invaded their turf.

“L.A. cannot continue to provide nationwide service without the assistance of the federal government,” DeConcini said. “While the problem of gang violence has historically been regarded as a local problem, it must now be recognized as a national menace.”

DeConcini noted that the two largest gangs operating in Phoenix are the Los Angeles-based Bloods and Crips.

Officials in cities such as Portland, Seattle and Shreveport, La., similarly have attributed their gang problems to the migration of Bloods and Crips, who quickly pick up local followers.

But it has not just been police from urban centers who call Los Angeles seeking information on local suspects. By last year, a map kept by the Sheriff’s Department to record gang sightings contained more than 70 dots--including ones marking York, Pa., Hobbs, N.M., and Ashton, Ida., population 1,200, where a drive-by shooting was linked to a gang member who had moved there from Long Beach.

A series of law enforcement reports have documented the spread of Los Angeles-area gangs, beginning in the mid-1980s, usually to sell crack cocaine, but sometimes simply to escape crackdowns in their home territory.

“We get about five to 10 (calls) a day from all over the United States and occasionally from out of the country too,” said Officer Nelson Anderson of the Los Angeles police gang unit, which had 49,815 gang members in its computer files as of Jan. 10.

DeConcini said the national system, when complete, would cross-reference information on as many as 450,000 gang members under such categories as names, aliases, modes of operation, favored weapons and businesses used as fronts.

The bill, the Outlaw Street and Motorcycle Gang Control Act of 1991, would create a national gang analysis center to operate the data base and a national gang telephone hot line. The center also would provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies and dispense public information about gang activities. The center would be under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

DeConcini said that the anti-gang effort could become part of a $15-billion package of federal programs that President Bush wants to turn over to the states for administration. Under the President’s proposal, outlined in his State of the Union address Tuesday, the federal government would continue to provide funding for the programs.

The proposed legislation also would create a mandatory minimum prison term of five years for stealing a firearm or explosive material and make it illegal for any person to transfer a firearm if he has reason to believe that it would be used in drug trafficking or a violent crime.

DeConcini’s bill was endorsed by members of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents 220,000 officers across the country. “An important aspect (in controlling gang violence) is information shared with state and local governments,” said Gilbert Gallegos, national vice president of the order. “We have had a real problem exchanging information.”

While welcoming the help of a national tracking system, the LAPD’s Anderson predicted that police departments elsewhere likely would continue to look to Los Angeles when a gang problem arises. “They’ll still call us,” he said.

Olen reported from Washington and Lieberman from Los Angeles.