Feinstein Unveils Bill to Fight Gangs

Acknowledging that state and local officials are taking a drubbing in their long war on gangs, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) announced efforts Monday to bring tough new federal help to the fray.

Flanked by about 20 area officials at a Los Angeles City Hall news conference, Feinstein unveiled a 10-point proposal calling for tougher laws, stronger enforcement and stiffer penalties.

Feinstein said her bill, to be introduced once Congress reconvenes Feb. 26, would treat young street gangs as the “traveling syndicate” they have become, frequently crossing state lines to engage in the types of activities once associated mainly with Mafia-type crime organizations.

It was no accident that the Bay Area-based Feinstein chose to publicize her proposed Federal Gang Violence Act in Los Angeles County, which, by Sheriff Sherman Block’s accounting Monday, is home to 11,042 street gangs. They accounted for 790 homicides last year, added Block, who was on hand to lend support to the senator’s proposal.

Yet Feinstein was quick to note that the “explosion” in gang violence is “not just an L.A. problem, not just an inner-city problem.” She said 82% of all U.S. towns--including the nation’s 175 largest cities--have reported the presence of gangs within their city limits.

Monday’s news conference also threw the spotlight on Mayor Richard Riordan, who has begun to come under criticism for the slow start of the countywide anti-gang “working group” he convened in September.

Shortly after a 3-year-old girl died in a hail of gang gunfire when her family’s car took a wrong turn down a dead-end alley, Riordan summoned a host of the area’s top political and criminal justice leaders to join him in an aggressive attack on violent street gangs.

“You cannot fight crime with words. We need action,” Riordan told the crowded news conference that followed the group’s initial two-hour meeting. But the promised countywide “gang czar” has yet to be appointed. Seeing little evidence of follow-through, the City Council recently formed its own ad hoc committee to seek ways to combat the gang problem.

Riordan acknowledged that the group has made a slow start, but he claimed progress in several areas while awaiting White House respond to the group’s preliminary application for $5 million in federal anti-crime funds.

He cited the county Probation Department’s efforts to update criminal records to help mete out appropriate sentences to repeat offenders, and several subcommittees have been working on several fronts, Riordan added.

Feinstein’s bill was praised by officials at Monday’s news conference for its efforts to carve a broader federal role in a battle that has resisted the best efforts of state and local leaders.

“We’ve been outgunned, out-resourced and outmanned in the war against violence,” said Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee, promised to introduce a resolution today seeking council endorsement of Feinstein’s program.

And Inglewood Mayor Edward Vincent, who spent 30 years working for the Probation Department, said the senator’s bill would help send a message to gang members “that we are serious . . . they don’t believe us now.”

Feinstein’s proposals do not include new federal funding for prevention programs, but she encouraged cities to apply for some of the $8 billion earmarked in major anti-crime legislation two years ago.

Some of the key provisions in Feinstein’s proposal include:

* Doubling the penalty for any member of an organized street gang who commits a federal crime.

* Doubling penalties for gang members who cross state lines to commit crimes.

* Criminalizing gang efforts to recruit youngsters and make them punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Other provisions include applying some of the sanctions in federal anti-corruption law, known as RICO, to gang activity, giving prosecutors more time to prepare cases and even making it a crime to wear a bulletproof vest during commission of a federal crime.