Countywide : Grand Jury Praises Anti-Gang Program

An innovative gang crackdown program run by the Westminster Police Department won high marks with the Orange County Grand Jury, which has recommended that other cities implement similar programs.

The jury’s report, which analyzed how gangs affect the community and recommended some solutions, also commended the Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team, or TARGET, for its “tremendous success after one year of operation.”

The report, which was released Wednesday, recommended that law enforcement agencies should study the TARGET program--believed to be the first of its kind in the state--and use it as a model for similar programs in their areas.

TARGET, which costs the city $160,000 a year, teams two police officers, a deputy district attorney, a district attorney’s investigator and a Probation Department officer, to work full time against the gang problem.

The unit has established a computer database on gang members, which enables officers to track their contacts with police in neighboring cities. The team also has compiled files on and profiles of those identified as the city’s most dangerous gang members. The group works out of the basement of the Westminster Police Department.

Westminster Police Chief James Cook said Wednesday that although TARGET has reached its goals for its first year, the program will continue to expand to better combat gangs.

“We targeted 53 repeat offenders who are known gang members, and out of the 53, we put 35 in custody, and out of the 35, the conviction rate was 100%,” Cook said. “I feel that by removing these hard-core offenders, we probably have saved a couple hundred felonies that would have been committed in Westminster by those members.

“But our job is far from done or over.” In its report, the grand jury also suggested that law enforcement agencies work with citizens, parents, educators and business leaders to start community gang abatement programs. It also recommended that cities institute a hot line, similar to 911, for the public to report graffiti problems.