Anti-Gang Program Producing Results

First, the city of Paramount told gang members: “Get out of violence or get out of town.” Then it developed an aggressive, in-your-face law enforcement policy that targets hard-core gang members.

And now, three years later, the crime rate continues to drop, and the city’s TARGET (Team Approach Regarding Gang Enforcement Techniques) program has been named the recipient of a special achievement award from the California Healthy Cities Project, a statewide organization that promotes citizen participation and civic well-being.

It was in 1992 after the murders of three young people--two of whom were high school seniors--by gang members that community members took action. They formed a grass-roots group of 60 people from churches, schools, business organizations and law enforcement agencies.

The resulting TARGET program allows the Police Department to list 25 of the community’s most violent gang members, and to single them out for close observation. The gang members are identified by police based on criminal records and informed that they are on the list, city spokeswoman Linda Benedetti-Leal said.

Police officers seek to contact those targeted as many as four times a day to find out where they are and what they’re up to.

In the first year of the program, the city reported gang-related violence dropped 41%. In 1993, there were 172 gang-related violent crimes, City Manager Patrick West reported. This year the number has been reduced to 89.

“TARGET has been the single most successful program in Paramount history in curbing gang violence,” West said. “In the last three years we’ve also seen gang membership drop about 10%.”

Benedetti-Leal says the program has fostered closer contacts among law enforcement agencies. A county probation officer, for example, now works in the Paramount police station, and parole officers are in much closer contact with the district attorney’s office.

“Law enforcement agencies are alerting one another about what’s going on in the community,” she said.