A New Tack in Fighting Gang Crime

As the recent surge in violent crime has leaders in South Los Angeles scrambling for solutions, a neighborhood experiment in combating gang violence is unfolding in Boyle Heights.

The project, called Operation Cease-Fire, calls for mobilizing an army of law enforcement agencies and neighborhood groups in a carrot-and-stick approach to wiping out the gunfire heard nightly in this Eastside community.

Adapted by the Rand Corp. from a nationally lauded model in Boston, the program already has supporters hoping it will spearhead renewed efforts to control gang violence in Los Angeles.

“This is one of a number of tools we’re going to have to put into effect to begin to seriously address youth and gang violence in our city,” said Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles). He and other local legislators held a series of summit meetings last week in response to an outbreak of shootings in South Los Angeles.

Operation Cease-Fire will employ two strategies: aggressive crackdowns on gangs responsible for violent crimes and consolidating resources for counseling, jobs and education programs.

Supporters say it differs from past efforts in Los Angeles--which have included civil injunctions against gang members, as well as the large-scale gang sweeps of the 1980s carried out under former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates’ Operation Hammer.

After a shooting, the program will be mobilized in the affected neighborhood, bringing in law enforcement and outreach help, said Rand public policy analyst George Tita.

For more than a year, Tita--an academic expert on gangs and homicide--has been developing the program with the help of a $200,000 federal grant. It was developed in conjunction with the U.S. attorney’s office and community agencies.

Boyle Heights was chosen as a test area because police statistics show 75% of the homicides there involve gangs, Tita said. There have been 13 people killed so far this year, half the number who died during the same period last year.

The community has “become desensitized to gun use because it’s so prevalent in our community,” said Elsa Casillas of the East L.A. Community Corp., an outreach agency.

Her group and others will provide a menu of program options, including counseling, to gang members and families affected by violence or arrests.

U.S. Atty. Alejandro Mayorkas, whose Los Angeles office will coordinate the program’s “stick” component, said he expects Operation Cease-Fire to hit the streets by fall.

The Boston program is credited with dramatically reducing youth homicides in five communities since 1994. Operation Cease-Fire has been copied in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Albuquerque.

Not everyone in Boyle Heights is enthusiastic.

What worked well in Boston, some warn, might not in Los Angeles because gang and law enforcement problems are more complex.

“Let’s not fool ourselves. The people who bring about cease-fires in this community are the Mexican Mafia,” said youth outreach worker Juan Jimenez, referring to the prison-based gang with extensive ties to drug trafficking and gangs throughout the state. An effort to control local gangs by any other group, he said, is a tricky endeavor.

“We’re a different culture here,” Jimenez said. “People from the outside don’t realize.”

A few street-level workers say they are wary of compromising their rapport with gang members by appearing chummy with law enforcement. “We’ve been burned a lot of times,” said Mike Garcia, a former gang member who works as a counselor for hard-core members. “Most of these new programs stay for six months and then they’re gone.”

Supporters hope the program is here to stay. Here’s how it works:

After a shooting believed to involve gangs, the LAPD, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Drug Enforcement Agency have agreed to collaborate with local and federal prosecutors to pursue charges against all active members of the gang involved.

So even though a gang member might have an alibi regarding the shooting, he would be vulnerable to arrest for outstanding warrants, parole violations or drug possession. The idea is to warn all gang members that violence will no longer be tolerated.

“The way it worked in the past, an individual’s prosecution depended on which law enforcement unit made the arrest,” Mayorkas said.

The new program is intended to better coordinate the filing of criminal charges. For example, Mayorkas said, “We have federal statutes available for particular offenses that may prove more effective than some state statutes.”

Given the inaccuracies recently revealed in the gang databases compiled by the LAPD’s now-disbanded CRASH unit, however, some outreach workers worry that reformed gang members will pay the price for the crimes of others.

Much of Operation Cease-Fire will rely on accurate information on gang membership, so the chance for mistakes is a concern, said county Public Defender Michael Judge, whose office will participate in the program.

If a person leaves a gang but continues to be treated as a gang member by authorities, Judge said, “it says you cannot get out of a gang in any way the police recognize--so you may as well seek the protection of the gang and stay in.”

Los Angeles police Det. Bill Eagleson, a member of the Hollenbeck Division’s new gang detail, said his team will focus on high-profile gang members and those responsible for violence.

“We’re going after the shot-callers, who would not deny their gang involvement, and the soldiers--those putting in work for the neighborhood--who also will have no reason for denying involvement,” Eagleson said.

Father Gregory Boyle, whose Homeboy Industries organization participated in the program’s development, has given his blessing to the program. “There is no punishment unless you’ve done something that is punishable,” he said. “If someone is clean, then there won’t be a problem.”

Law enforcement will put the heat on the roughly 5% of gang members thought to be responsible for most gang violence, Boyle said, while new outreach efforts can improve life for the remaining 95%.

Roughly $22 million has been earmarked for the Southern California area by the federal Department of Labor for a separate jobs and education program that local leaders see as a natural complement to Operation Cease-Fire.