ANAHEIM : Report on Drugs, Gangs Is Due Today

A committee report to be unveiled today on solving the city’s growing gang and drug problems will be the most comprehensive study of its kind in Orange County, Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy said.

Molloy, who advised the Drug and Gang Citizens Task Force, declined to reveal specifics of the study Monday, but said: “It’s not just a wish list type of thing. We have some solid concrete proposals. . . . Nobody in the county has a plan like this.”

The advisory committee is a group of various community leaders, including activists, minority leaders, church officials and youth group organizers. It was formed in February to look at the recommendations of city officials and community leaders and to hold public hearings on gang and drug issues.

“We had a broad spectrum of people on the committee, and after our last meeting last week, everybody agreed with what we had to say,” Molloy said. He said recommendations will be made on how to prevent children from becoming involved with drugs and gangs, on intervening with those who do, and on prosecuting drug dealers and gang members involved in criminal activities.

A preliminary report issued when the task force was formed showed that there are now 35 gangs in the city and more than 700 gang members. In 1980, the city had five longstanding gangs with 100 members.

City officials drew criticism last year from some local groups that accused them of doing little to abate gang violence.

The Orange County Congregation of Community Organizations, which is composed of local churches, drew 500 people to a protest rally last December in the wake of a gang shooting that killed a 16-year-old parishioner of one of the churches.

The presentation and discussion of the report will begin at 3 p.m. at City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim St.