[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
BEYOND THE STREETS:
AMERICA'S EVOLVING GANG THREAT
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM,
AND HOMELAND SECURITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 25, 2012
__________
Serial No. 112-140
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
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Available via the World Wide Web: http://judiciary.house.gov
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COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
LAMAR SMITH, Texas, Chairman
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan
Wisconsin HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina JERROLD NADLER, New York
ELTON GALLEGLY, California ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT,
BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia Virginia
DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California MELVIN L. WATT, North Carolina
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ZOE LOFGREN, California
DARRELL E. ISSA, California SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
MIKE PENCE, Indiana MAXINE WATERS, California
J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
STEVE KING, Iowa HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
TRENT FRANKS, Arizona Georgia
LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico
JIM JORDAN, Ohio MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois
TED POE, Texas JUDY CHU, California
JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah TED DEUTCH, Florida
TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania JARED POLIS, Colorado
TREY GOWDY, South Carolina
DENNIS ROSS, Florida
SANDY ADAMS, Florida
BEN QUAYLE, Arizona
MARK AMODEI, Nevada
Richard Hertling, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Perry Apelbaum, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
------
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., Wisconsin, Chairman
LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas, Vice-Chairman
BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT,
DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California Virginia
J. RANDY FORBES, Virginia STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
TED POE, Texas HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,
JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah Georgia
TIM GRIFFIN, Arkansas PEDRO R. PIERLUISI, Puerto Rico
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania JUDY CHU, California
TREY GOWDY, South Carolina TED DEUTCH, Florida
SANDY ADAMS, Florida SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
MARK AMODEI, Nevada MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois
JARED POLIS, Colorado
Caroline Lynch, Chief Counsel
Bobby Vassar, Minority Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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JULY 25, 2012
Page
OPENING STATEMENTS
The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., a Representative in
Congress from the State of Wisconsin, and Chairman,
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security........ 1
The Honorable Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, a Representative in
Congress from the State of Virginia, and Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security........ 11
WITNESSES
Robert F. Green, Assistant Commanding Officer, Operations-South
Bureau, Los Angeles Police Department
Oral Testimony................................................. 14
Prepared Statement............................................. 16
Richard W. Stanek, Sheriff, Hennepin County, MN
Oral Testimony................................................. 22
Prepared Statement............................................. 24
Tim King, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Urban Prep
Academies
Oral Testimony................................................. 25
Prepared Statement............................................. 27
Constance L. Rice, Co-Director/Attorney, Advancement Project
Oral Testimony................................................. 31
Prepared Statement............................................. 33
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Statement of the United States Department of Justice submitted by
the Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., a Representative in
Congress from the State of Wisconsin, and Chairman,
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security........ 3
BEYOND THE STREETS:
AMERICA'S EVOLVING GANG THREAT
----------
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism,
and Homeland Security,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:01 a.m., in
room 2141, Rayburn Office Building, the Honorable F. James
Sensenbrenner, Jr. (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Sensenbrenner, Forbes, Chaffetz,
Gowdy, Adams, Scott, Johnson, Chu, and Quigley.
Staff Present: (Majority) Caroline Lynch, Subcommittee
Chief Counsel; Toni Angeli, Counsel; Lindsay Hamilton, Clerk;
(Minority) Bobby Vassar, Subcommittee Chief Counsel; Ron
LeGrand, Counsel.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The Subcommittee will come to order.
Without objection, the Chair will be authorized to declare
recesses during votes in the House.
Today's hearing examines the ongoing threat posed by gangs
and the evolution of gangs in America. Over the past 20 or more
years, gangs have evolved from localized criminal organizations
to international criminal enterprises vying for control of
sophisticated criminal schemes, often with the threat or use of
violence.
Today, gangs are increasingly engaged in non-traditional
gang-related crimes such as alien smuggling, human trafficking
and prostitution. Gangs are also engaging in white-collar crime
such as counterfeiting, identity theft and mortgage fraud. They
have become transnational criminal organizations and compete
with many other criminal organizations.
According to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment,
there are approximately 1.4 million gang members belonging to
more than 33,000 gangs in the United States. It has been
reported that the number of gang members in the U.S. increased
by 40 percent since 2009.
Today's tough economic environment has made it even easier
for gangs to recruit new members. In the year 2000, more than
50 percent of all American teens had a job. Last summer, less
than 30 percent had a job. More teenagers on the streets with
nothing to do fosters opportunities that gangs now have to
increase their membership.
As the traditional family unit continues to change in
America, young people seek a sense of belonging. For many
teenagers, a gang becomes a new family for them. Unfortunately,
the values taught by these new families include aggression,
brutality and violence.
Another significant threat is the acquisition of high-
powered military-style weapons and equipment by gangs.
Typically, gangs acquire firearms through illegal purchases,
straw purchases and thefts. Gang members also target military
and law enforcement officials' facilities and vehicles to
obtain weapons and ammunition, body armor, police badges,
uniforms, and official identification. This increases the
potential for lethal encounters with law enforcement officers
and civilians.
Gangs continue to evolve and become more violent. According
to the FBI, gangs are responsible for an average of 40 percent
of violent crime in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in
several others. Gangs are also becoming more sophisticated,
employing new and advanced technologies to facilitate criminal
activity discreetly and to enhance their criminal operations.
They use the latest methods of communication to connect with
other gang members, criminal organizations, and potential
recruits nationwide and worldwide.
Accordingly, the current threats posed by gangs are quite
serious. There are many stories of success which I hope will
reverse the current trend. In 2007, the City of Los Angeles,
with the recommendations of the Advancement Project,
implemented two programs aimed at reducing gang violence. In
just 5 years, these programs have significantly decreased the
number of homicides and violent crimes in city parks that are
located in so-called gang violence hot zones.
Sometimes community policing and intervention must give way
to enforcement and suppression due to the frequency and
intensity of gang violence. Chicago is in the grips of a deadly
gang war. Over 275 people have been killed in Chicago so far
this year, and many more have been shot, many of them innocent
bystanders to the gang violence. The Chicago Police Department
has 200 officers assigned to its gang enforcement unit, versus
100,000 gang members in Chicago. Last month, Chicago Police
Sergeant Matt Little likened Chicago's gang problem to tribal
warfare. He said, ``It continues to build unless we manage to
interdict it and manage to stop it long enough for the blood to
stop boiling and the heat to die down.''
This discouraging situation will hopefully be tempered by
efforts by educators such as Mr. King, who are working hard to
reduce the susceptibility of recruitment by gangs. Other large
U.S. cities are experiencing varying degrees of success in
addressing recruitment into gangs and gang-related crimes. This
hearing will explore the tools available to address gang
recruitment, crime and violence, which range from enforcement
and suppression to community policing and intervention, and are
often a combination of both. The hearing will specifically
examine the evolving gang threats in Chicago, parts of
Minnesota, and Los Angeles.
We are joined today by four witnesses who have dedicated
their efforts to put a stop to violent gangs and to prevent the
recruitment of America's youth into these criminal
organizations. I look forward to hearing about their
experiences and successes in addressing this serious national
challenge.
Without objection, the statement of the Department of
Justice will be submitted into the record at this point.
[The information referred to follows:]
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__________
Mr. Sensenbrenner. It is now my pleasure to recognize for
his opening statement the distinguished Ranking Member of the
Subcommittee, Congressman Bobby Scott, who has made one of the
50 Most Beautiful People on the Hill. [Laughter.]
Mr. Scott?
Mr. Scott. Since you're going to mention that, I also made
the 50--the 25 Hardest Working. I made that list, too, a couple
of years ago. [Laughter.]
Mr. Sensenbrenner. I agree with that.
Mr. Scott. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want
to thank you for scheduling this hearing on gangs.
As you and the longer-serving Members of this Subcommittee
are aware, preventing violence and crime by young people,
particularly gang violence and crime through gangs, has been an
issue which we have worked on for a significant amount of time
since I've been in Congress.
We have recently passed through the Judiciary Committee a
reauthorization of the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant
Program, which resulted from a collaborative effort with former
Crime Subcommittee Chairman Bill McCollum of Florida and every
Member of the Subcommittee, with each Member on both sides
serving as co-sponsors. The bill was first passed in the
Committee in 1999. It was passed from the Committee a total of
six times with the help of former Crime Subcommittee Chairman
Smith and Cobles during their terms there and beyond.
We have also led or supported reauthorization of the
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 on
several occasions.
Unfortunately, despite what the science and evidence
strongly say, my 35 years of experience as a legislator at the
state and Federal level has been one that, when it comes to
crime policy, we almost never pay any attention to science and
evidence. That is why we have seen a 90 percent reduction in
the amount of money spent on prevention and intervention since
2000, and that is why we have not been able to pass legislation
such as the Youth Promise Act.
When it comes to crime, we have a choice. We can do what
the science and evidence says and reduce crime, or we can
participate in the politics of crime. The politics of crime
involve the tough-on-crime slogans and sound bites, such as
poll-tested slogans like ``three strikes and you're out,''
``abolish parole,'' ``truth in sentencing,'' ``mandatory
minimum sentences,'' or if we can get it to rhyme, it's even
better, ``if you do the adult crime, you do the adult time.''
Research and evidence show us that while these tough-on-crime
approaches sound good, they range from having little to do with
preventing crime to actually increasing the crime rate.
Under the get-tough-on-crime approach, no matter how tough
we were last year, you have to get tougher this year, and we
have been getting tougher year by year for about 30 years now,
since 1980. We have gone from around 200,000 prisoners
incarcerated in the United States to over 2 million, with
annual costs going up accordingly.
As a result of these approaches, today the United States is
the world's leading incarcerator, by far, with an incarceration
rate 7 times that of the international average. The world
average is about between 50 and 200 prisoners per 100,000. The
rate in the United States is over 700 per 100,000, African
Americans at about 2,200. Ten states lock up Blacks at the rate
of almost 4,000 per 100,000. And yet, the violence and crime
and gangs persist, and we can look at what is happening in
Chicago and New Orleans, we can show that it is growing.
Regardless of all the people we have incarcerated from our
tough-on-crime approaches, the situation still persists.
Research as well as common sense tells us that no matter how
tough we are on people we prosecute today, unless we are
addressing the underlying reasons for crime, young people will
follow the same trajectory and nothing will change. The next
crime cohort will simply replace the ones we take out and crime
continues, so just getting tough will not reduce crime.
All the credible research and evidence shows that a
comprehensive strategy of evidence-based interventions and
supports aimed at at-risk youth will greatly reduce crime. They
will save much more money than they cost when compared to money
that otherwise would have been spent on law enforcement and
other criminal justice and social welfare system costs.
These approaches are the most effective when provided in a
context of a coordinated, collaborative strategy involving law
enforcement, education, social services, mental health, non-
profit, faith-based and other groups, business representatives
who work with identified children at risk of involvement with
the criminal justice system. We saw a demonstration of this in
my district, in the City of Richmond, Virginia, through a grant
program costing $2.5 million from the Federal Gang Reduction
Program, a collaborative effort of Federal, state and local
governments and community organizations that established an
anti-gang strategy which reduced the murder rate in the
targeted area from 19 to 2.
Due to medical advances, there are about four to five times
more shooting victims that survive for every one that dies. So
the 19 murders represented about 80 shootings, all of which
were likely to be indigent care patients of the Medical College
of Virginia emergency facility in Richmond. When you compare
the cost of 80 shootings to that of around 8, the difference
alone probably saved more than $2.5 million, and when you add
the fewer arrests, prosecutions and incarcerations, the savings
really add up.
Los Angeles had a similar pilot project and experienced
similar results, so much more of that has become part of the
foundation for establishing its comprehensive city-wide, anti-
gang program, which we will hear about today.
So as we look at issues of growing threats from gang crime
in this country, I believe that we again will be faced with a
choice of doing what has been proven to reduce crime or what
has proven to be good politics, and unfortunately the two do
not match. I can only hope that we will consider seriously this
time the science, evidence, and demonstrated effectiveness
which I expect we will hear about today as to what has been
proven to be effective and what has not.
This does not mean that we stop addressing serious crimes
with strong law enforcement. We must do that, and we will
continue. But it simply means that we shouldn't stop there. We
need to focus on fewer crimes being committed.
So, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I look forward to the
testimony of the witnesses.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Thank you very much.
It is now my pleasure to introduce today's witnesses.
Commander Bob Green has been the Assistant Commanding
Officer of Operations, South Bureau of the LAPD, since 2010.
Previously he held many other positions with the LAPD. He
became a police student worker in 1978 and entered the Police
Academy in 1980. Commander Green was promoted to Lieutenant in
1999 and assigned as a watch commander. In 2004, Commander
Green was promoted to Captain and was assigned as a Patrol
Commanding Officer. The following year, Commander Green was
promoted to Captain 2, and assigned as the Commanding Officer
LAPD Field Services Division at the Los Angeles International
Airport. In 2007, he was promoted to Captain 3.
Commander Green attended Cal State University at Long
Beach, the Loyola Marymount University and Union Institute. He
holds an Associate Arts degree in Administration of Justice and
a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement Leadership and
Management.
Sheriff Richard Stanek is the 27th Sheriff of Hennepin
County, Minnesota, which is the largest county there. He was
first sworn in on January 1, 2007 and was reelected in 2010. In
January, Sheriff Stanek began a 2-year term as President of the
Major County Sheriffs' Association. He serves on the Board of
Directors of the National Sheriffs' Association and co-chairs
the NSA Homeland Security Committee, as well as being active in
the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Sheriff Stanek began his career in the Minneapolis Police
Department. He rose through the ranks from patrol officer,
detective, precinct commander, to Commander of Criminal
Investigations.
While a police officer, Sheriff Stanek was elected five
times to the Minnesota House of Representatives, and he chaired
the House Crime Policy and Finance Committee. In 2003, he was
appointed by the governor as Commissioner of Public Safety and
Director of Homeland Security.
He earned a Criminal Justice degree from the University of
Minnesota and a Master's degree in Public Administration from
Hamline University.
Tim King is the Founder, President and CEO of Urban Prep
Academies, a non-profit organization operating a network of
public college prep boys' schools in Chicago, including the
Nation's first all-male charter high school and related
programs aimed at promoting college success. Mr. King also
serves as an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University and
has contributed to the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times,
and the Huffington Post.
He holds a doctorate honoris causa from the Adler School
and received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and Juris
Doctor degrees from Georgetown.
Ms. Constance Rice has been co-director and attorney at the
Advancement Project since 1998. She is also a partner at
English Munger and Rice. Previously, she spent 9 years in the
Los Angeles office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund. Prior to this position, she was President of the Board of
Commissioners at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power,
Special Assistant to the Associate Vice Chancellor at UCLA, and
previously was an associate attorney at Morrison and Foerster.
She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard and her
J.D. degree from NYU.
Without objection, all of your statements will be printed
in full in the record. Without objection, all Members' opening
statements will be printed in the record.
As you know, we ask you to summarize your testimony in 5
minutes. There will be lights in front of you to coach you when
your time is up.
The Chair recognizes Commander Green.
TESTIMONY OF ROBERT F. GREEN, ASSISTANT COMMANDING OFFICER,
OPERATIONS-SOUTH BUREAU, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
Mr. Green. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, council members. It
is an honor to be here. I think it is important I put my
testimony in context. For three decades, I have done very
aggressive law enforcement work in Los Angeles. I believed that
it was all about handcuffs and, as Ms. Rice would say, shock
and awe.
We spiked in violent crime during the late '80's and early
'90's in Los Angeles, and we were seen as the murder capital of
the country, and we responded with very aggressive suppression.
We would bring in 500 cops to an area of the city, and anything
that looked like criminal activity we would address, a lot of
citations, a lot of people went to jail.
For a short period of time it reduced violence and gang
violence. But overwhelmingly, we eroded our relationship with
the community, we lost community trust, which ultimately set
the stage for the civil unrest in Los Angeles in 1992.
We struggled with our programs for about 10 years, and in
2007, with the leadership of Ms. Rice, the Urban Peace
Institute, the Advancement Project came together with our
strategy and call to action in Los Angeles, and Mayor
Villaraigosa followed that up with his gang initiatives and
established the Gang Reduction Youth Development Office.
For me initially, it was extraordinarily distasteful that I
would have to partner with ex-offenders and Shot Callers to
reduce violent crime. I sit humbly before you today saying that
I could not have been more wrong. Based on those relationships
with the ex-offenders, the wrap-around programs that we have in
Los Angeles, we have reduced crime dramatically, and gang
crime.
To have intervention workers respond after a shooting in
partnership, true partnership with law enforcement to reduce
potential additional shootings or retaliation shootings has
been very, very successful. Building those relationships with
people that have influence in a neighborhood that we do not has
paid significant dividends.
The Community Engagement Programs, Summer Night Lights,
where we bring in gang members, community members, law
enforcement and intervention workers together at a recreation
center to role model expected behavior has been very
successful.
The Community Safety Partnership, we have gone into four of
the most troubled housing developments in the City of Los
Angeles. We have put 10 cops in each one of those developments,
not for suppression but for community programs. In the 8 months
that they have been in existence, we have seen a dramatic
reduction in crime. But most importantly, we have seen an
unprecedented improvement in the relationship between those
communities and law enforcement.
The Watts Gang Task Force, where we used to have nothing
but conflict and finger pointing, has been impressively
successful in our ability to get along and ensure progress.
Now, that doesn't mean that suppression has gone out the
window. Suppression is an important element, but it needs to be
strategic, and it needs to be done in a partnership with the
community, with the community, not for the community.
Our Federal partnerships and local partnerships with the
City Attorney's Office and District Attorney's Office for
injunctions and enhancements is a vital part of the overall
cocktail that has helped in L.A. The FBI's programs for Save
Our Streets Task Force has given us the ability in the last 2
years to increase our homicide clearance rate by 20 percent, to
an unprecedented 80 percent, which is important because once an
individual starts to shoot, there is nothing to slow him down.
So the quicker we can get that individual off the street and
target just the violent offenders, the better off we are, and
we are able to reduce additional shootings and homicides.
The Safe Street Partnership working with our gang officers
to give us additional logistics and technology and financial
support is critical to us. The relationships with the DEA and
ATF on these task forces to be able to partnership and have
strategic suppression for violence, not just for gang
suppression but for the violent element in that community, to
remove them from the community so they can't continue to
offend, we have got to do all that with wrap-around.
The ability to work with Shot Callers, ex-gang members, in
partnership with law enforcement does tremendous things when we
walk into recreation centers, and even walk up and hug a thug,
and he can hug a cop. That's what we call it. But ultimately,
that role modeling has done tremendous things for us in our
ability to establish those relationships in the community.
So as we move forward in L.A., we will continue strategic
suppression, but without a doubt, the intervention prevention
programs are the root of a lot of our success now in Los
Angeles.
[The prepared statement of Commander Green follows:]
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__________
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Thank you very much, Commander. Believe
me, your reputation has come in advance of you here, and we are
happy to see something that works rather than hear about things
that don't.
Sheriff Stanek.
TESTIMONY OF RICHARD W. STANEK, SHERIFF,
HENNEPIN COUNTY, MN
Mr. Stanek. Well, thank you, Chairman Sensenbrenner,
Ranking Member Scott, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank
you for the opportunity to be here today. I am Rich Stanek,
Sheriff of Hennepin County. I am here today on behalf of the
National Sheriffs' Association, where I serve on the Board of
Directors, and I am the Chair of their Homeland Security
Committee. This year I also began a 2-year term as President of
the Major County Sheriffs' Association.
I have been asked to testify today about the specific
emergence of Somali gang-related issues we are having in my
county. The Minnesota Somali population has been estimated in
the range of 80,000 to 125,000, and the majority of them live
in Hennepin County. Whereas the African population represented
4 percent in the United States in 2008, in Minnesota Africans
represent 18 percent of our population because Minnesota is a
designated U.S. refugee resettlement area.
I would like to state for the record that the Somali
community as a whole is made up of law-abiding citizens who
came to Minnesota as refugees and are now an important part of
our community.
Mr. Chair and Members, Somali gangs are unique in that they
are not necessarily based on the narcotics trade, as are other
traditional gangs. The most successful gang prosecutions
require a narcotics nexus. Somali gang criminal activities are
not based on a certain geographical area or turf. The gang
members will often congregate in certain areas but commit their
criminal acts elsewhere. The criminal acts are often done in a
wide geographic area that stretches outside of the Twin Cities
seven-county metro area, and their mobility has made them
difficult to track.
Mr. Chair and Members, let me describe several typical
crimes committed by Somali gangs. First, credit card fraud.
Recently, Somali gangs have committed a high volume of credit
card skimming and credit card fraud. Credit card skimming is a
high-reward and a low-risk crime. The skimming is done by
acquiring a skimming device, computer, and the necessary
software. In Minnesota, we are seeing trends where gangs
recruit individuals, often restaurant employees, to perform
skimming during work hours, and then give the skimming device
back to the gang members.
These cases are difficult for law enforcement, often
requiring a large amount of time since the cards are often not
used locally. In credit card fraud cases, an investigator must
find a victim and the location of the initial skimming. There
can be numerous victims from one skimming operation.
Surveillance video is necessary, and computer forensics are
essential in order to identify suspects.
A second would be witness intimidation. Somali gangs
readily engage in witness tampering and intimidation. In Somali
culture, if a crime is committed against a family, clan or
tribe, remittances are paid to family members. Somalis in
Hennepin County have continued this remittance payment
practice. We have learned that victims' families often prefer
to negotiate financial remittances rather than follow through
with judicial prosecution. Oftentimes, the payments are made
directly to relatives in Somalia.
This remittance payment continues to interfere in the
successful prosecution of gang members, and witness
intimidation by Somali gang members has become an ongoing
threat to successful prosecutions. In a recent homicide trial
in Hennepin County, a witness recanted his earlier testimony,
and another witness refused to return from London in order to
testify. We believe there were direct threats of violence made
to witnesses and family members. The suspect in this case, a
known Somali gang member, was tried but acquitted by a jury.
The homicide is believed to have been in retaliation for
previous testimony provided by opposing gang members in another
homicide.
The third are gun store burglaries. In July of 2008, a gun
store in Minnetonka, Minnesota was burglarized. The suspect
took 57 handguns. Through the investigation, it was determined
that the guns were taken by members of the Somali Outlawz.
Through tracking the recovered guns, it was determined that the
majority of guns were either traded or sold to other known gang
members. These same guns were then used in homicides,
aggravated assaults, shootings and robberies. Twenty-seven of
those stolen handguns have yet been recovered.
Fourth is a terrorism nexus to gang activity. In 2007, a
local Somali community started to report that some of the youth
in the area had essentially disappeared without warning. It was
later learned that 20 young men had left Minneapolis to travel
to Somalia to receive training and fight as members of al-
Shabaab. One individual had moved to Minneapolis as a teenager
in 1983, and following a shoplifting arrest he fell into the
violent street gang called the Somali Hot Boyz. After a short
period of time, he emerged as a recruiter for al-Shabaab, which
eventually led him to leave Minneapolis for the Horn of Africa
in 2008. Later it was learned this individual was killed in
fighting between al-Shabaab and Somali government forces.
Mr. Chair and Members, in conclusion, the Somali gangs have
emerged as a serious threat to community safety both in
Hennepin County and as a unique challenge to our law
enforcement resources. These gangs are involved in multiple
criminal activities that require sophisticated and resource-
intensive law enforcement investigations. They are growing in
influence and violence. They demonstrate the importance of
multi-jurisdictional law enforcement information sharing, and
practice certain cultural behaviors that render some
traditional U.S. criminal justice tools less effective. We are
clearly faced with a challenge that requires an innovative
approach, including new investigative tools and focused
resources.
Mr. Chair and Members, I look forward to working with
Congress and our law enforcement partners to identify and
implement smart and cost-effective solutions. I am happy to
answer any questions you might have. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Sheriff Stanek follows:]
Prepared Statement of Richard W. Stanek,
Sheriff, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Chairman Sensenbrenner, Ranking Member Scott, and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I am Rich
Stanek, Sheriff of Hennepin County in Minnesota. I am here today on
behalf of the National Sheriffs' Association where I serve on the Board
of Directors and am the Chair of the Homeland Security Committee. I
currently serve on the Department of Homeland Security's Inter-agency
Threat Assessment and Coordination Group and this year, I also began a
two-year term as President of the Major County Sheriffs' Association.
I have been asked to testify today about the specific emergence of
Somali gang related issues we are having in my county. Minnesota's
Somali population has been estimated in the range of 80,000 to 125,000
and a majority of them live in Hennepin County. Whereas the African
population represented 4% in the United States in 2008, in Minnesota,
Africans represent 18% of our population because Minnesota is a
designated U.S. Refugee Resettlement Area. I would like to state for
the record that the Somali community as a whole is made up of law
abiding citizens, who came to Minnesota as refugees and are now an
important part of our community.
Why are Somali gangs unique?
Somali gangs are unique in that they are not necessarily based on
the narcotics trade as are other traditional gangs. Most successful
gang prosecutions require a narcotics nexus. Somali gang criminal
activities are not based on a certain geographical area or turf. Gang
members will often congregate in certain areas, but commit their
criminal acts elsewhere. Criminal acts are often done in a wide
geographic area that stretches outside of the Twin Cities seven county
metro area. Their mobility has made them difficult to track.
Typical Crimes committed by Somali Gangs include the following:
First, Credit Card Fraud: Recently, Somali gangs have committed a
high volume of credit card skimming and credit card fraud. Credit card
skimming is a high reward, low risk crime. The skimming is done by
acquiring a skimming device, computer, and necessary software. In
Minnesota we are seeing trends where gangs will recruit individuals,
often restaurant employees, to perform the skimming during work hours
and then give the skimming device back to the gang member.
These cases are difficult for law enforcement, often requiring a
large amount of time since the cards are often not used locally. In
credit card fraud cases, an investigator must find a victim and the
location of the initial skimming. There can be numerous victims from
one skimming operation. Surveillance video is necessary and computer
forensics are essential in order to identify suspects. United States
commerce is far behind other countries in credit card security.
Encrypted chip technology is proposed to begin use in the United States
in 2013.
Sadly, because the sentences for credit card skimming are short,
criminals are less concerned with the legal consequences. The resources
needed to investigate credit card fraud and the sentencing guidelines
make enforcing these laws very challenging.
Second, Cell Phone Store Burglaries: Cell phone stores in Minnesota
also have been targeted by suspected Somali gang members where suspects
smash the glass of the front doors, move to storage areas and target
high-end smart phones. They can be in and out of the store in less than
2 minutes. Suspects have learned to travel to different metro areas in
the United States to avoid the heightened awareness of law enforcement
in certain communities.
One strategy we've implemented is to work with cell phone companies
to identify security weaknesses at their retail venues. One weakness we
found was in the handling of merchandise stock overnight. Phones were
not being placed in vaults, making them easy targets. By moving their
stored phones into vaults a number of stores have reduced their risk
for stolen merchandise.
Third, Witness intimidation: Somali gangs readily engage in witness
tampering and intimidation. In Somali culture, if a crime is committed
against a family, clan, or tribe, remittances are paid to family
members. Somalis in Hennepin County have continued this remittance
payment practice. We've learned that victims' families often prefer to
negotiate financial remittances rather than follow through with
judicial prosecution. Oftentimes the payments are made directly to
relatives in Somalia. This remittance payment continues to interfere in
the successful prosecution of gang members.
Witness intimidation by Somali gang members has become an ongoing
threat to successful prosecutions. In a recent homicide trial in
Hennepin County, a witness recanted his earlier testimony, and another
witness refused to return from London in order to testify. We believe
there were direct threats of violence made to witnesses and family
members. The suspect in the case, a known Somali gang member, was
tried, but acquitted by a jury. The homicide is believed to have been
retaliation for previous testimony provided by opposing gang members in
another homicide.
Fourth, Gun Store Burglaries: In July of 2008, a gun store in
Minnetonka, Minnesota, was burglarized; the suspects initially cut the
alarm and telephone lines and waited for law enforcement response.
After law enforcement and management had cleared the area, the suspects
returned and committed the burglary. The suspects took 57 handguns.
Through the investigation it was determined that the guns were taken by
members of the Somali Outlawz. Through tracking of recovered guns, it
was determined that the majority of guns were either traded or sold to
other known gang members. These same guns were then used in homicides,
aggravated assaults, shootings, and robberies. Twenty seven of the
stolen handguns have not yet been recovered.
Fifth, Terrorism Nexus to Somali Gang Activity: In 2007, the local
Somali community started to report that some of the youth in the area
had essentially disappeared without warning. It was later learned that
20 young men had left Minneapolis to travel to Somalia to receive
training and fight as members of al-Shabaab. One individual had moved
to Minneapolis as a teenager in 1993. Following a shoplifting arrest,
he fell into the violent street gang called the ``Somali Hot Boyz''.
After a short period of time, he emerged as a recruiter for al-Shabaab
which eventually led him to leave Minneapolis for the Horn of Africa in
2008. Later, it was learned this individual was killed in fighting
between al-Shabaab and Somali government forces.
In conclusion: Somali gangs have emerged as a serious threat to
community safety in Hennepin County and a unique challenge to law
enforcement. These gangs are involved in multiple criminal activities
that require sophisticated and resource-intensive law enforcement
investigations, are growing in influence and violence, demonstrate the
importance of multi-jurisdictional law enforcement information sharing,
and practice certain cultural behaviors that render some traditional
U.S. criminal justice tools less effective. We are clearly faced with a
challenge that requires an innovative approach including new
investigative tools and focused resources.
I look forward to working with Congress and our law enforcement
partners to identify and implement smart and cost-effective solutions,
and I am happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you,
__________
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Thank you, Sheriff.
Mr. King.
TESTIMONY OF TIM KING, FOUNDER AND
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, URBAN PREP ACADEMIES
Mr. King. It is a tremendous honor to be asked to give
testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime,
Terrorism and Homeland Security, and to be able to offer a
perspective from the field of education. For that opportunity,
I would like to thank the Chairman, the Vice Chair, as well as
Ranking Member Scott and the other Members of the Subcommittee.
I would also like to recognize Representative Quigley of the
Illinois 5th Congressional District, who is no doubt familiar
with the issues affecting our city.
Chicago is in a profound state of crisis. With every
weekend comes another round of bloodshed. Between June 22nd and
the 24th, four people were killed, including two boys aged 13
and 14, and 30 were wounded. Between June 29th and July 1st, 17
people were wounded, including a 3-year-old and 9-year-old.
Nine people were killed. So far this year, more Americans have
been murdered in the streets of Chicago than in service in
Afghanistan. Chicago has seen four times as many murders since
January as New York City, and last week, as the country awoke
to the intensely tragic news that a mass gunman had opened fire
in a Colorado movie theater, I was learning that two teenagers
in Chicago had been killed and another wounded. That wounded
teenager is a rising senior at Urban Prep named Demarcus Brown.
I founded Urban Prep Academies, the country's first network
of all boys' charter public high schools, in large part as a
response to some of the factors that are currently playing out
in the form of this summer's violence. Since our founding, 100
percent of Urban Prep's graduates have been admitted to
college. This is a major accomplishment for any school. But
given that all of our graduates are African American males, and
that there are exceptional challenges facing this population,
the achievement is even more significant.
In order to shed light on the state of affairs of being a
young Black male in a violence-filled community, Urban Prep's
sophomore, Yaviel Ivey, was recently asked to record a month-
long video diary for CBS News. Toting a camcorder on his way to
and from school, Mr. Ivey chronicled the daily violence he
witnessed. ``I don't expect to have a future in my
neighborhood. I want better for myself,'' he said in one entry.
In another entry, Mr. Ivey told about being asked by a gang
member what gang he was affiliated with, narrowly escaping when
he responded that he was neutral.
There are as many as 600 Chicago gangs, with approximately
150,000 members. Mr. Ivey comes from a home in which he is
loved and supported. He is a straight-A student who wants to
become an entrepreneur. Yet, even the advantages of family,
intellect and ambition cannot protect him from the violence
that threatens his community. For Mr. Ivey, like so many other
young people, simply walking out of the front door can be a
dangerous undertaking.
To address this problem, we must offer hope to communities
and people plagued by violence. The only way we will staunch
the violence is to persuade those committing violent acts that
they have something to lose, that there are opportunities for
enjoyment and advancement that don't come at the expense of
those around them, that there are paths to respect that don't
go through fear.
But hope is not enough. We need further support for schools
like Urban Prep and others that are committed to educating our
cities' most vulnerable children. We need engaged community
organizations, empathetic law enforcement, and government that
invests heavily in the well-being of its citizens.
In the end, what we need is action, action that will ensure
that all children, all Americans are safe. Demarcus, the Urban
Prep student who was shot last week, is still in the hospital.
His older brother Eric was also an Urban Prep student. I say
``was'' because he graduated this past year, having been
accepted to college, to multiple colleges, and receiving the
Gates Millennium Scholarship, which will cover all of his
college and graduate school expenses. This fall, he will be
enrolled in Howard University right here in our Nation's
Capital. What a tragic juxtaposition, one brother on his way to
college, and another in the hospital fighting for his life.
Eric Brown is proof that it is possible to end these cycles
of violence one child at a time. His younger brother Demarcus
is a tragic reminder of what happens if we do not. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. King follows:]
Prepared Statement of Tim King, Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Urban Prep Academies
It is a tremendous honor to be asked to give testimony to the House
Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, and
to be able to offer a perspective from the field of education. For that
opportunity, I would like to thank Chairman Sensenbrenner, Vice-Chair
Gohmert, Ranking Member Scott, and the other members of the
Subcommittee. I would also like to offer special thanks to
Representative Quigley of the Illinois 5th District, who is no doubt
familiar with some of the issues that I will be discussing today.
When we talk about violence in Chicago, the statistics that are
regularly cited show a city in a profound state of crisis. With every
weekend comes another round of bloodshed. Between June 22 and 24, four
were killed, including two boys aged 13 and 14, and 30 were wounded.\1\
Between June 29 and July 1, 17 were wounded, including a three-year-
old, and nine were killed.\2\ So far this year, more Americans have
been killed in the streets of Chicago than in service in Afghanistan
\3\; Chicago has seen four times as many murders since January as New
York City.\4\ And last week, as the country awoke to the profoundly
tragic news that a masked gunman had opened fire in a Colorado movie
theater, I was learning that in Chicago, three teenagers had been shot,
including an Urban Prep student.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Crimesider Staff, ``4 dead, 30 wounded in weekend Chicago
violence intensifying search for answers,'' CBS News/AP [Chicago] 25
Jun. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012 .
\2\ ``Chicago Shootings: 3-Year-Old Boy Among At Least 17 Hurt, 9
Killed In Weekend Gun Violence,'' Huffington Post 7 Jun. 2012, 22 Jul.
2012 .
\3\ Crimesider Staff, ``4 dead, 30 wounded in weekend Chicago
violence intensifying search for answers,'' CBS News/AP [Chicago] 25
Jun. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012 .
\4\ David Knowles, ``Wild West in Chicago--City officials fight
back as murder rate outstrips N.Y., L.A.--even Kabul,'' The Daily 15
Jun. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012. .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Urban Prep Academies, the country's first network of all-boys
charter high-schools and the organization that I represent today, was
created in large part as a response to some of the factors that are
currently playing out in the form of this summer's violence. In
Chicago, as in large cities around the country, minorities, especially
Black males, are grossly overrepresented in prison populations \5\ and
underrepresented in schools \6\ and places of work.\7\ The statistics
tell a story of endemic disenfranchisement. The national high school
drop-out rate for Black males hovers around 50 percent,\8\ and the
leading cause of death for African-American males age 15 to 34 is
homicide.\9\ Today, one in three Black children live in poverty,\10\
and one-third of Black men born this decade will spend some time in
prison.\11\ In Chicago, just 2.5 percent of Black males attending
public school will graduate from a four-year college.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ ``Statistics on African-American males,'' The Morehouse Male
Initiative 22 Jul. 2012 .
\6\ Sean F. Reardon, Rachel Baker and Daniel Klasik, ``Race,
income, and enrollment patterns in high selective colleges, 1982-
2004.'' Center For Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University 15
Jul. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012 .
\7\ United States, Department of Labor, The African-American Labor
Force in the Recovery. (Washington: 2012) 22 Jul. 2012 .
\8\ ``Yes We Can: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education
and Black Males 2010,'' Schott Foundation for Public Education. Aug.
2010, 22 Jul. 2012 < http://schottfoundation.org/publications/schott-
2010-black-male-report.pdf>.
\9\ United States, Center for Disease Control, Leading Causes of
Death by Age Group, Black Males-United States, 2007 (Washington: 2007)
22 Jul. 2012, .
\10\ Kristin Anderson Moor, Zakia Redd, Mary Burkhauser, Kassim
Mbwana and Ashley Collins, ``Children in Poverty: Trends, Consequences,
and Policy Options,'' Apr. 2009, 22. Jul. 2012 .
\11\ ``Criminal Justice Fact Sheet'' NAACP 22 Jul. 2012 .
\12\ Melissa Roderick, Jenny Nagaoka, and Elaine Allensworth,
``From High School to the Future: A First Look at Chicago Public School
Graduates' College Enrollment, College Preparation, and Graduation from
Four-Year Colleges,'' The University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago
School Research Apr. 2006, 22 Jul. 2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Urban Prep's mission is simple: To provide a high-quality
comprehensive education that results in our graduates succeeding in
college. While our schools are still young, thanks to the efforts of
our dedicated teachers, administrators, parents and students, Urban
Prep is well on its way to increasing the number of African-American
males who earn college degrees. Since our first senior class graduated
in 2010, 100 percent of Urban Prep graduates (all Black males) have
been admitted to college, and 83 percent are persisting in college,
compared to a national persistence rate for Black males of 35
percent.\13\ In 2010, the most recent year for which data is available,
one in twenty African-American males enrolling in college from Chicago
Public Schools was an Urban Prep graduate.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ ``MCLD College Scholar Program,'' Milwaukee Center for
Leadership Development. 22 Jul. 2012 .
\14\ ``2010 College Enrollment For the Class of 2010 Based on the
National Student Clearinghouse Data For All Graduates,'' Chicago Public
Schools 25 Apr. 2011: 1-11.
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It takes hard work to achieve these outcomes. Our students have a
longer school day that results in an additional year of instruction
when compared to traditional public schools, and are required to
participate in at least one afterschool activity each semester. Many of
our young men spend their summers in academic programs at universities
like Cornell, Georgetown and Oxford. They are the heirs to a unique
school culture that celebrates even the smallest achievements in order
to reinforce our belief that doing the right thing is the right thing
to do.
Yet while Urban Prep students experience a safe-haven inside our
schools, they still must often navigate treacherous streets in their
communities. In order to shed more light on the state of affairs within
one such community, rising Urban Prep sophomore Yaviel Ivey was
recently asked to record a month-long video diary for CBS News.\15\
Toting a camcorder on his way to and from school as well as around his
house, Mr. Ivey (in order to promote respect within our schools, we
refer to our students by their surnames) chronicled the daily violence
that is endemic to his neighborhood. ``I don't expect to have a future
[in my neighborhood]. I want better for myself,'' he said in one entry.
In another entry, Mr. Ivey told about being asked by a gang member what
gang he was affiliated with (there are as many as 600 Chicago gangs
with approximately 150,000 members \16\), narrowly escaping when he
responded that he was neutral. Mr. Ivey comes from a home in which he
is loved and supported. He is a straight-A student who wants to become
an entrepreneur. Yet even the advantages of family, intellect, and
ambition cannot protect him from the violence that threatens his
community. For Mr. Ivey, like so many other young people, simply
walking out of the front door can be a dangerous undertaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Byron Pitts, ``Chicago teen on living amid violence: `I don't
expect to have a future here','' CBS Evening News 12 Jun. 2012, 22 Jul.
2012 .
\16\ Mark Guarino, ``In Chicago, heat and homicide stoke fear and
frustration,'' Christian Science Monitor 18 Jul. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the danger is all too real. A year ago, Leonetta Sanders, the
principal of Harper High School (located on Chicago's South Side just
two miles from Urban Prep's Englewood Campus) started a list of current
and former students who became victims of gun violence in a binder she
kept in her office.\17\ This July, she added her 27th name, eight dead
and 19 shot. Ms. Sanders says that at the end of the school year, her
students will talk not about what they will do over the summer, but how
many of them will survive to make it back next fall. Sadly, stories
like this are typical of many Chicago public high schools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\17\ Fresh Air, WBEZ, Chicago, IL 9 Jul. 2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the bullets wound many more in addition to those they strike.
Research by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has
found that almost one-half of all American inner-city youth show signs
of post-traumatic stress disorder.\18\ The fear of personal danger and
the knowledge that loved ones may be taken at any point weigh heavily
on the fragile psyches of our youth. Additionally, the steps many
families take to safeguard their sons and daughters, including
prohibiting them from going outside on their own, have unintended
consequences as young people miss out on opportunities for exercise and
personal enrichment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ John Otrompke, ``Nearly Half of Inner-City Youth Suffer From
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Presented at AACAP,'' P/S/L Group 4
Nov. 2010, 22 Jul. 2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Urban Prep has always been a leading voice in demanding that
greater attention be paid to addressing the problem of youth violence.
And we have not been alone in seeking answers from our city, state, and
federal governments. The leadership of other schools, as well as
community groups, has fought for a stronger response to the violence
sweeping our streets. We want to know what's being done to make our
city safer. But before we have answers, we need to know that we're
asking the right questions.
We need to ask what kinds of events lead to violent crime in
Chicago, because most of it is not, as some would have you believe, the
result of gang warfare or drug-related robberies. Chicago Police
Department data show that the most common homicide in Chicago begins as
a nonviolent altercation, escalates into violence and involves
guns.\19\ Clearly, Chicagoans need to learn that retribution isn't the
answer, but they also need to know that justice will be served. Let's
support interactions between the community and police force so that
Chicagoans feel like their neighborhoods are being protected, not
occupied. And let's increase the penalties for illegal weapon
possession so that arguments can't turn so quickly into gunplay.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\19\ ``Youth program helps curb violence,'' United Press
International 13 Jul. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to ask how we might prevent crime from happening rather
than reacting to its effects. Last year's popular documentary The
Interrupters brought some much-deserved attention to CeaseFire, a group
that works to end cyclical violence in some of Chicago's toughest
neighborhoods. Using staff members who have cachet within the community
to identify and reach out to those who might be at risk for violence,
CeaseFire has been able to cool a number of hotspots in the
disadvantaged neighborhoods of Englewood, Auburn Gresham and West
Garfield Park. Earlier this month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel promised
to provide funding for 90 additional CeaseFire staff members, and to
instruct the Chicago Police Department to work more closely with
CeaseFire identifying and reaching out to at-risk individuals.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ Carol Marin and Don Moseley, ``Chicago Police, Ceasefire
Prepare for Partnership,'' NBC5 Chicago. 9 Jul. 2012, 22 Jul. 2012
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to ask questions about the type of person most likely to
become a victim or perpetrator, and then devise strategies to
specifically impact these individuals. According to the University of
Chicago Crime Lab, both victims and perpetrators of violent crimes are
far likelier than not to be between the ages of 10 and 25, to be
minorities, and to be male. In predicting the likelihood of involvement
in a violent crime, the Crime Lab lists several non-demographic
variables as well, most notably alcohol use, mental health problems,
and ``perhaps particularly,'' school failure.\21\ Let's acknowledge
that in Chicago, certain populations--young Black men particularly--are
far more likely to be perpetrators and victims of violence. But instead
of blaming these young people, let's develop and support outreach
programs targeting these specific groups, so that they know that there
are alternatives to gangbanging, and that if they follow the difficult
path through high school and to college, they will be supported every
step of the way.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\21\ ``Report: Gun Violence Among School-Age Youth in Chicago,''
The University of Chicago Crime Lab 22 Jul. 2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to ask what strategies already in place are having an
effect on youth and gang violence, and how we can support them. A study
released last week by the University of Chicago Crime Lab found that
young men who participated in an athletics-based youth counseling
program were 44 percent less likely to be arrested for violent crime
while participating in the program.\22\ Investing in targeted programs
like these is not only right; it is, in time of budgetary constraints,
the fiscally responsible thing to do. The same University of Chicago
study found that pro-social youth programming produces a return on
investment of between three and thirty-one times over when compared to
the societal cost of violence, incarceration and rehabilitation. Let's
provide further support so that programs like these can be replicated,
and new programs tested.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ William Harms, ``Study: Chicago counseling program reduces
youth violence, improves school engagement,'' UChicagoNews 13 Jul.
2012, 22 Jul. 2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to be able to empathize with those Chicagoans for whom
violence and danger have become part of a devastating routine. These
are individuals whose lives and choices are constrained by the constant
threat of violence, who spend their time, like Leonetta Sanders,
memorializing those that they have lost; or, like Yaviel Ivey, longing
for a life outside the neighborhood; or like our students and others
who have been shot or shot at, enduring the trauma and the long
recovery of victimization. Put yourselves in their shoes. Imagine what
it's like for the child who has to pass by streets where he might be
attacked simply because of where he lives; for the mother who has to
worry about not when but if her child will come home tonight; for the
school that can't have outdoor recess or a hold a homecoming football
game for fear of a drive-by shooting. If we cannot stem the violence,
we condemn these innocents and others like them to suffer for crimes of
which they had no part.
We need to remember that this is not just a South Side problem, not
just a Chicago problem, not just a problem for Illinois. The violence
in one of America's greatest cities is an American problem. Harvard
sociologist Bruce Western has pointed out that sixty percent of Black
males who do not complete high school are either dead or have spent
time in prison by the they're 34 years old.\23\ 60 percent--well over
half--are dead or have spent time in prison by the age of 34. This
isn't just a sickness within our city but a national epidemic, and we
need to address it by pursuing strategies that will keep students in
school until they graduate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ Beckit Pettit and Bruce Western, ``Mass Imprisonment and the
Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration,''
American Sociological Review Apr. 2004: 151-169
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to learn from other cities that productive partnerships
between the public and private sectors can mitigate violence before it
becomes a police matter. This past fall, New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg and philanthropist George Soros matched $60 million from the
City of New York to fund the Young Men's Initiative, which will target
315,000 Black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24, with an eye
towards improving graduation and employment rates while reducing
criminal recidivism.\24\ The Young Men's Initiative recognizes that
targeted programs are the best means to provide demographic-specific
measures like job training and culturally relevant teaching. It also
acknowledges that prevention is more cost-effective than response. In
the past 30 years, the incarceration rate in the United States has
quadrupled, to the point where the United States now has a higher
percentage of its population and higher total number of individuals
behind bars than any other country in the world.\25\ This is not only a
burden on state and federal budgets, but is extremely disruptive to
communities in which a large percentage of the population has spent
time in prison.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ Karen Zraick, ``Young Men's Initiative, Program for Young
Minorities, Draws Praise, Questions,'' Huffington Post 4 Aug. 2011, 22
Jul. 2012 .
\25\ ``Prison Population Around the Globe,'' The New York Times 22
Apr. 2008, 22 Jul. 2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We need to focus on that portion of the population--young minority
men--most likely to commit and be victimized by violent crime, and in
order to create targeted interventions, we need to go through the
institutions that are already designed to impact these individuals.
Schools are and must be our best means of breaking the cycle of
violence that consumes so many young lives. We must equip our schools
with the expertise and funding to provide enrichment activities that
will give young people a safe place to spend the dangerous hours
between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m.\26\ We have to see our schools not just as
places where children go to learn, but as institutions that build
communities and community-minded individuals. And we need to continue
to support parents in their right to choose for their children
whichever school they think will best suit their children's needs,
whether that be a neighborhood, charter or magnet school.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ ``After-School Programs,'' Education Week 3 Aug. 2004, 22 Jul.
2012 .
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Urban Prep, we've recognized the importance of connecting our
students with mentors and tutors who can provide them with the extra
academic and emotional support that they need. One of the ways that
this is being accomplished is through the Urban Prep Fellows Program,
which matches recent college graduates with cohorts of around 25
freshmen. These men and women volunteer their time to serve our
students and are models for the sort of engagement that we need to
cultivate in our disadvantaged communities, but even they are not above
the threat of danger. This past year, one of our Fellows, Will Morris,
was mugged at gunpoint while he walked with two students to the train
station. As I drove to visit him in the hospital (he suffered a broken
nose and several other injuries), I was prepared to accept the fact
that he would probably be dropping out of the program and heading home.
I certainly wouldn't have blamed him if he had. Mr. Morris, however,
didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay and continue to help our
students thrive. His dedication and bravery should serve as an example
to others, as should the courage of the students who were attacked with
him. They too were committed enough to return to school and continue
the pursuit of their education.
Finally, we must offer hope to communities and people plagued by
violence. The only way we'll staunch the violence is to persuade those
committing violent acts that they have something to lose, that there
are opportunities for enjoyment and advancement that don't come at the
expense of those around them, that there are paths to respect that
don't go through fear. But hope is not enough. We need further support
for schools like Urban Prep and others that are committed to educating
our cities' must vulnerable children. We need engaged community
organizations, empathetic law enforcement, and government that invests
heavily in the wellbeing of its citizenry. In the end, what we need is
action--action that will ensure that all children, all Americans, are
safe.
resources for further engagement
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness. New York: The New Press, 2010. Print.
``Bam--Sports Edition: University of Chicago Crime Lab Research and
Policy Brief.'' The University of Chicago Crime Lab, 2012. Print.
Bruce, Mary; Bridgeland, John M.; Fox, Joanna Horig; Balfanz, Robert.
``On Track for Success: The Use of Early Warning Indicator and
Intervention Systems to Build a Grad Nation.'' Civic Enterprises,
2011. Print.
``Reaching Black Boys.'' Catalyst Chicago and the Community Renewal
Society, 2009. Print.
``Failed Policies, Broken Futures: The True Cost of Zero Tolerance in
Chicago.'' Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, 2011. Print.
Kaba, Mariame and Edwards, Frank. ``Policing Chicago Public Schools: A
Gateway to the School-to-Prison Pipeline.'' Project NIA, 2012.
Print.
Kotlowitz, Alex. There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys
Growing Up in the Other America. New York: Anchor, 1992. Print.
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools.
New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. Print.
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid
Schooling in America. New York: Crown, 2005. Print.
Petteruti, Amanda. ``Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in
Schools.'' Justice Policy Institute, 2011. Print.
__________
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Thank you very much, Mr. King. This is
very inspiring.
Ms. Rice.
TESTIMONY OF CONSTANCE L. RICE, CO-DIRECTOR/ATTORNEY,
ADVANCEMENT PROJECT
Ms. Rice. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much for
having me, Congressman Scott, all the other Members. It is an
honor to be here.
I hail from Los Angeles, the gang capital of----
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Can you move your mic a little closer to
you, please?
Ms. Rice. Okay. Can you hear me?
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Is it on?
Ms. Rice. Okay. Good morning.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Better.
Ms. Rice. Okay, good. Thank you. Again, thank you for
having me, and it is an honor to be here.
Mr. King gave a very moving statement, and his work is
critically important for one child at a time.
I come from Los Angeles. There are over 100,000 gang
members, 1,000 gangs. We spent $25 billion over 35 years, and
we have six times as many gangs and at least three times as
many gang members.
You heard Commander Green talk about when we were at war.
My first reaction to the fundamental belief that I have that
the first civil right is the right to safety, the first freedom
is freedom from violence. I am looking at children who die at
the ages of 10 and 11 and get accosted by gangs. In L.A.'s gang
hot spots, in L.A. County, we have over 850,000 innocent
children trapped in gang hot spots that Commander Green and
LAPD and the sheriffs have been patrolling and fighting and
battling in a war.
That war has cost us $35 billion, and we have far more of
the problem. It is not that we didn't need very brave officers
to combat, but it wasn't ending the gang mentality, it wasn't
ending the spread of gang culture, and it was not ending the
violence. The kids were more in danger than ever. The cops were
more in danger. There have been over 60 officers murdered in
our gang hot spots, and 100,000 Angelinos shot over the last 25
years.
When we took a look at this issue, we were asked, my group,
the Advancement Project, was asked by the City of Los Angeles
and its ad hoc committee at the city council level to tell the
region why L.A. was stuck on stupid when it came to reducing
gangs, reducing gang membership, reducing the hold of gang
culture on L.A.
What we did was we pulled together 35 experts. Anytime you
put lawyers and 35 experts together, you are going to get a big
report. The report weighed 12.5 pounds and was 1,000 pages
long. The only good thing about that was that it was too big to
ignore, because we had ignored every other report.
Thirty-five experts, including law enforcement, and you
want to know what they said? They said, you can't litigate your
way out of it, looking at me because I had filed I don't know
how many lawsuits. Commander Green, how many times did I sue
you? [Laughter.]
I sued. I woke up every day trying to figure out a new way
to sue in class actions, not just regular, and I was at war
with LAPD and the sheriffs, trying to get constitutional
policing. They were at war with the gangs. We were all fighting
each other, and the kids were dying.
So we got unstuck off of stupid, and we said, you want to
know something? The civil rights litigators don't have the
answer, and shock and awe policing suppression doesn't have the
answer either. Both may be necessary, but we are not getting
the job done. The kids are not safer.
What we did is we wrote that report together, and as
Sergeant McBride said, ``Connie, I don't even like you, but you
want to know something? I'm going to join you on this report
because when I retire, after 40 years of being on the Sheriff's
Department, I just arrested the grandson of the man I first
arrested when I got 2 weeks out of the Sheriff's Academy, and I
arrested his dad 10 years ago. I have destroyed three
generations of that family, and the next generation is going
into the gangs.''
So when we decided to take a look, a fresh lens on this
problem, we came up with a comprehensive violence reduction
focus and strategy. That is the strategy that Commander Green
is talking about. Instead of suing each other, we now have each
other on speed dial. We work all the time together. We have
comprehensive prevention, comprehensive suppression, strategic
suppression, re-entry, and wrap-around security for the kids.
Look at the data. The data tell you the truth. While
Chicago is going up by 33 percent, L.A.'s gang crime has gone
down another 20 percent. Summer Night Lights, where the GRYD
Office works, with the GRYD Office, our Gang Reduction and
Youth Development Office, which is in the mayor's office, where
that works at Summer Night Lights, magic. Gang homicides
plummet 57 percent. Nowhere in the country does that happen.
Do you want to know why? It is because we are working
together like a symphony. We are not just playing separate
instruments in a corner. We are conducted by Deputy Mayor
Guillermo Cespedes together, by the Chief of Police, and by the
Mayor, and we all get in the boat and row together to keep kids
safe. That is the comprehensive wrap-around.
Yes, the threat is going up, but please don't have the
Pavlovian response of shock and awe. We need strategic
responses, and we have to understand that what we have been
doing in the past isn't getting the job done. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Rice follows:]
Prepared Statement of Constance L. Rice, Co-Director/Attorney,
Advancement Project.
I am a civil rights lawyer who for 30 years has been fighting for
our poorest children to enjoy the basic right of safety. All children
should, at minimum, be able to walk to and from school, play in a park
and walk to the corner store without fear of getting shot or being
accosted by thugs. In my view, the first of all civil rights is the
right to safety and the first of all freedoms is freedom from violence.
In short, without public safety there are no civil rights.
the los angeles context for gang hot spots
Since 1980, residents trapped in Los Angeles county's gang hot
zones have suffered 7,000 gang murders, 50 police officer deaths, at
least 16 gang intervention deaths and an estimated 100,000 people shot.
L.A.'s violent gang crime costs California taxpayers more than $2
billion every year, with each gang murder costing $1 million dollars in
direct costs and up to $16 million in indirect costs. After 35 years of
fighting a $25 billion ``war on gangs,'' the County of Los Angeles
found itself in the year 2005 with six times as many gangs, twice as
many gang members, a gang violence epidemic, high gang homicide rates,
and a legacy of hostility between police and residents of high crime
zones.
By 2005, despite sustained declines in non-gang crime, L.A.'s gang
crime and its youth gang homicide rate stayed stuck at epidemic levels.
The 35 year ``war on gangs'' had left Los Angeles county as the violent
gang capital of the nation with over 100,000 gang members and 1,000
gangs, half of which operated in the city of Los Angeles. A former
World Health Organization epidemiologist who studies violence as a
disease, concluded that, in the city's gang hot spots, ``Los Angeles is
to violence what Bangladesh is to diarrhea, which means the crisis is
at a dire level requiring a massive response.'' Worse, a criminologist
for the California Attorney General's office concluded that the Petri
dishes of L.A.'s high crime neighborhoods had spawned ``a violent gang
culture unlike any other. . . .''--and L.A. was exporting it across the
country.
By 2012, however, the city of Los Angeles had a much better story
to tell. The city had achieved significant drops in gang crime, the
first declines in gang homicides and the end of the youth gang homicide
epidemic that had raged since 1985. And by summer of 2012, as Chicago
posted a 33% increase in gang homicides and Boston and Philadelphia
struggled with increasing violence, L.A.'s gang homicides continued to
drop, prevention programs had demonstrated a 35% reduction in gang
affiliation, and in the city's Summer Night Lights parks, gang
homicides plummeted an astonishing 57%.
What changed?
the report: a call to action: the case for comprehensive solutions to
los angeles' gang violence epidemic
In 2007 the Los Angeles City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Gang
Violence and Youth Development commissioned the Advancement Project to
explain why the city's gang reduction efforts had reduced neither gangs
nor gang violence. In January 2007, we issued our one thousand page
report, A Call to Action: The Case for A Comprehensive Solution to Los
Angeles' Gang Violence Epidemic. The report, conducted with over thirty
experts in areas ranging from the epidemiology of violence and gang
anthropology to mental health and law enforcement, explained that the
``war on gangs'' was the wrong paradigm to reduce gang violence,
culture and crime. While police suppression would always play a prime
role, suppression alone could not dent L.A.'s gang epidemic, and
untargeted saturation-suppression (``war'') had increased street gang
cohesion and coincided with gang expansion and alienation of residents
in gang neighborhoods.
One expert analogized solely arresting gang members to swatting
mosquitoes in order to fight a malaria epidemic. By arresting one gang
member at a time, L.A. was swatting mosquitoes--and doing too little to
blunt the spread of the gang mentality, ideology or culture.
In short, the report concluded that Los Angeles could not arrest
its way out of an entrenched gang culture. L.A. police would always
need to remove violent criminals, but by stopping there, we were
leaving over 850,000 innocent kids in Los Angeles County gang hot
spots, 90% of whom have been exposed to felony violence, and a third of
whom suffer from civil war levels of post traumatic stress. The report
recommended to the City that it focus its resources in gang hot zones
and switch from ad hoc suppression to holistic collaboration aimed at
fixing the root causes of the gang epidemic. Instead of ``war,'' the
city needed data driven strategies that reduced youth attraction to
gang life, prevented gang joining, and aligned law enforcement and
other agencies with the comprehensive public health approach.
Upon its release in January 2007, the Los Angeles Daily News hailed
A Call to Action as ``A Marshall Plan for Gangs,'' and LAPD Chief
Bratton later cited it as the catalyst ``. . . that changed how the
city of Los Angeles deals with gangs.''
the comprehensive violence reduction model
The comprehensive violence reduction model requires a centrally
directed, adequately funded, network-based and relationship-based
strategy that forges cooperation and aligns missions across sectors,
disciplines, agencies, institutions and individuals. Through the
networks and coordinated programs, agencies, advocates, police,
families, schools and faith based organizations jointly forge
neighborhood-based and family-based strategies to reduce violence, keep
kids safe, create alternatives to gangs and change norms. The
comprehensive model's theory of change is that dislodging an entrenched
epidemic of gang culture cannot be done by arresting one gang member at
a time or rescuing one child at a time. It requires an ``all hands on
deck'' collaboration that is centrally coordinated to carry out
neighborhood strategies that bring help to families trapped in gang
zones.
Hallmarks of the city of Los Angeles' comprehensive ``wrap around''
approach are as follows:
Mayoral/Executive leadership that strongly insists on
focusing funding on gang hot zones; that is willing to run the office
responsible for executing comprehensive strategies; that accepts the
uncertainty inherent to the experimentation needed to find out what
works; that insists on police department cooperation; and that accepts
the high risks inherent to effective gang intervention. (In L.A., Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa accepted responsibility for a new office of Gang
Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD), launched the only city-funded
gang intervention academy, insisted on LAPD cooperation, and refused to
cut GRYD funding during budget wars.)
Law enforcement leadership that aggressively seeks to
increase trust between police and communities. (In L.A., LAPD Chief
William Bratton insisted on ``high road'' and ``public trust policing''
and current LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has created the first community
policing unit that will promote officers based on how they helped
families keep kids from being arrested.)
Law enforcement leadership that is willing to pull back
counterproductive and overly aggressive suppression; that supports and
works closely with Mayor GRYD staff; that works in tandem with
professional gang intervention. (In L.A., Chief Bratton, Los Angeles
County Sheriff Lee Baca and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck strongly backed the
Call to Action mandate to bolster suppression with comprehensive
community strategies, enthusiastically support working with
professional gang intervention, and continue to be key partners in
carrying out the comprehensive strategy.)
Establishment of a single accountability structure under
the Mayor's GRYD Office that has sufficient political insulation to
take risks, and sufficient clout to command cooperation from disparate
departments and sectors. GRYD requires a creative, politically skilled
director and non-bureaucratic staff who are mission-driven. (In L.A.,
the five-year-old Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development
operates out of the Mayor's office, is headed by Deputy Mayor Guillermo
Cespedes and has achieved remarkable milestones in establishing L.A.
city's comprehensive footprint--see attached data for GYRD Milestones)
GRYD Zones are established only in high gang violence, high need areas
to focus resources where the violence and need is greatest. Each of the
12 GRYD zones receive city resources that support year-round prevention
and intervention programs as well as have Summer Night Light parks
located inside the zones.
Data-driven operations and trial programs that synthesize
the best research, examine results, use sensible evaluation and change
course to pursue what works.
GRYD Office success with the Summer Night Lights safe
parks program has been key to building the political support necessary
to weather the risks taken to reduce gang violence: (In L.A., crime
reductions in GRYD zones outpaced reductions in comparable non-GRYD
areas of the county and city).
GRYD coordination of multiple agencies, advocates and
neighborhood leaders, to carry out strategic suppression, prevention,
intervention, re-entry, and community investment.
Family-based prevention strategies. GRYD is pioneering a
family health and treatment regimen designed to reduce gang risk
factors. Outside evaluators have already documented decreases in
participants' antisocial behavior including a 47.3% reduction in gang
fights and 48% decrease in gang activity.
Professional gang intervention based on the social
networking model of intervention and has the backing of law enforcement
as an independent resource in a comprehensive violence reduction
strategy
Gang intervention training to enhance the professionalism
of intervention workers, done in a city-funded intervention training
academy: the LAVITA (Los Angeles Violence Intervention Training
Academy) Academy is conducted for GRYD by the Advancement Project's
Urban Peace Academy.
Philanthropic, business, faith-based and academic support
for the Summer Night Lights safe parks program, a successful public-
private partnership with one half of the $6 million annual budget being
contributed by philanthropy.
Relationship-based networks that enact congruent programs
driven by the same theory of change.
Sustainable community policing that is backed by
departmental leadership and by incentive structures that reward problem
solving policing. LAPD, in agreement with the Housing Authority of City
of Los Angeles (HACLA) established its first unit of problem solving
police officers through its Community Safety Partnership (CSP). These
45 officers are deployed to four housing developments for five years,
and will be rewarded for developing relationships and innovative
community driven solutions to achieve safety. For the first time LAPD
officers will be promoted for demonstrating how they avoided arresting
a kid. In the first six months of deploying these officers, their areas
of Watts saw a 43% drop in crime and a notable retreat of gang
activity.
the office of gang reduction and youth development (gryd)
The GRYD Office, headed by Deputy Mayor Guillermo Cespedes, was
established five years ago in response to the Call to Action
recommendation to create a single accountability structure responsible
for implementing and coordinating comprehensive violence reduction,
intervention and prevention. It has approximately 40 staff who carry
out the family treatment prevention program, oversee street gang
intervention, develop re-entry strategies, make Summer Night Lights
happen and engage law enforcement. Deputy Mayor Cespedes would say that
GRYD is just getting starting, but the office has documented the
following milestones:
GRYD Prevention
In 2011, outside evaluator Urban Institute documented for the 10 to
14 year old program participants:
23% decrease in antisocial behavior
29% decrease in lack of parental supervision
35% decrease in critical life events
47.3% decrease in gang fights
35% decrease in hanging out with gang members
48% decrease in participation in gang activity
GRYD Summer Night Lights Safe Parks Program
The Summer Night Lights (SNL) program keeps parks in gang zones
open at night, offering neighborhood families food, sports, music,
games and a chance for neighborhoods to keep kids safe. SNL is the most
publicly recognized activity of the GRYD office and has been noted as a
remarkable success. Between 2008 and 2011 the SNL program had produced
significantly higher reductions in crime even compared to comparable
county parks with similar programs:
55% reduction in shots fired
43% reduction in aggravated assaults
Served over a million meals
Served 1.8 million visitors
Created over 3,000 job
11 times higher drop in gang crime compared to county
park programs
conclusion
Aggressive law enforcement to counter gang crime will always be
necessary, but entrenched gang violence and culture cannot be addressed
by suppression alone. In areas like Los Angeles that have epidemic
levels of gang crime and violence, it is also necessary to launch
comprehensive, wrap-around strategies described in this presentation.
LA still wrestles with serious gang threats in its gang hot spots,
but 2012 also marks the ninth year of significant citywide drops in
non-gang crime, the fifth year of significant reductions in gang crime,
and continued success in the Office Gang Reduction and Youth
Development's prevention, intervention, re-entry and Summer Night
Lights programs. Indeed, through this collaborative model, Los Angeles'
current crime rates have declined to levels last seen in 1952. This
progress, while partial, is clearly due to the city of L.A.'s decision
to move away from a ``war on gangs'' and move to adopt the
comprehensive violence reduction paradigm.
__________
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Thank you, Ms. Rice.
The Chair is going to defer his questions to the end and
now recognizes the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Forbes.
Mr. Forbes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank all of you
for being here. And we certainly appreciate your expertise and
your looking at these issues.
I think all of us agree that we need to work together. I
mean, there is no question about that. We also agree that we
need to have prevention programs, we need to work
strategically. But I would like to just look at a few
statistics.
According to the statistics that I have, we now have about
1.4 million active gang members in the country, and that is a
rise of about 40 percent since 2009. Do any of you dispute
those statistics, or do they seem fairly accurate to you in
what we are doing?
Sheriff, you mentioned the Somali gangs that you have.
Where do most of those gang members come from? How do they get
involved in the gangs?
Mr. Stanek. Yes. Chairman Sensenbrenner and Congressman,
generally many of the Somali citizens who live in my community,
the 80,000 to 125,000, the vast majority of them were refugees
who came to Minnesota through that resettlement agreement. But
now you are reaching into the first generation, so many of
these young people are now 10, 11, 12, 13, maybe even 14 years
old. They are growing up in a culture in which they are finding
that turning to gangs is, unfortunately, somewhat a way of life
for them, very unfortunate.
And so we are working hard to try and find ways to reach
them early on, early childhood family education type programs,
intervention, educators, the faith community and others. But
some came with that, but for the most part the young people who
are now entering gangs, Mr. Congressman, are folks who have
grown up here in the United States into these families.
Mr. Forbes. How about do any of you have any exposure to
MS-13 in your areas? Ms. Rice, do you have--Commander?
Mr. Green. Yes, sir. In Los Angeles, we have a sampling
component of MS-13.
Mr. Forbes. Where are they recruiting most of their
members? How do they get them?
Mr. Green. MS-13, typically throughout the neighborhoods,
and this is second, third generation. Some of it is built into
the family. But MS-13 is very embedded in the prison system,
and based on our current system within the prisons, they have
the ability to communicate outside and continue to not only
force recruitment but action from prison.
Mr. Forbes. How are we going after their networks, you
know, the leadership of the networks? Because the networks tend
to run these gangs, and if we continue to just take people off
the streets that are lower tier, we are not doing anything.
They are going to replace them over and over again. What are
your efforts at going after the networks, and how are you
effectively taking those networks out?
Mr. Green. In Los Angeles, it is strategy. It is mostly our
task forces. Our goal of the leadership is to diagram out those
gangs, target the leadership of the gangs and remove them.
Unfortunately, there is a void that is filled almost
immediately because it is very, very lucrative.
So as you continue to have that financial incentive, each
time we remove a top member of that gang, the void is filled
almost immediately, and we have to continue our efforts to
eradicate it through individuals.
Mr. Forbes. Ms. Rice?
Ms. Rice. Thank you. I think you have raised a very, very
important point. MS is one of the gangs, as Commander Green
indicates, that is probably one of the most violent, and
probably most linked in California with the large drug
distribution networks which are run from our prisons. That is
the main vector for the messages that go out to control the
drug trade, in California anyway.
If we could get ahold and control of our prisons and break
it up, MS is one of the gangs that has linked up with the
prison gangs, and the prison gang has linked up with the
cartels. But I don't want us to overreact to that. We need a
very focused, hierarchical strategy, because with organized,
international, transnational threats, you have to go for the
hierarchy. If you do that with street gangs, however, you end
up causing a metastasis of the culture in the mindset at the
local level.
So you are absolutely right that there needs to be a
different strategy for hierarchical, organized, international
crime cartel type of activity, which is all about business and
money, and the prison nexus there. I don't understand what we
are doing with our prisons as gang headquarters for national
cartel activity. In California, that is the new threat, that
the cartels are now merged with some prison gang drug
distribution, and they are now taking over some--just a few--
less than 1 percent of the street gangs.
I don't want us to go all shock and awe all over the place.
I would rather see us very strategically and surgically go
after this threat, but not in a way that destroys the
relationships and the proactive prevention and intervention and
alternating----
Mr. Forbes. Ms. Rice, my time is up.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The time of the gentleman has expired.
The gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Quigley.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank
all our panelists, not just for being here but for the work you
do in your own homes and communities to make us all safer.
Mr. King, thank you for what you do in Chicago. You, too,
know the statistics I am all too familiar with. There are
others. We had six people shot in 15 minutes two nights ago in
Chicago. In 2010, we had 700 kids get shot in 1 year. I was
fortunate. I grew up in a neighborhood where if you were in
grade school, your fears were bad grades or getting braces or
not getting a date to the prom or something like that. The
number-one fear for kids in Chicago is getting shot. So it is
something we have to work on.
Mr. King, you are familiar with my predecessor, who is now
the mayor of the City of Chicago. He recently has brought on
CeaseFire, the group, for over $1 million to try to intervene.
I assume you are familiar with their work?
Mr. King. Yes.
Mr. Quigley. What is your assessment of a group like this
attempting to intervene in the hostilities that take place and
stop them before they happen?
Mr. King. So I think that groups like CeaseFire are
integral parts of this problem. You mentioned that the number-
one fear for inner-city youth is getting shot. I would also say
that for many people, many young people, getting shot is a
badge of honor. And so while no one wants to get shot, in
certain communities, including those in Chicago, there are some
young people who believe that by getting shot, they have
somehow proven something to other gang members, to their
families, to their communities. And so they aspire to engage in
violence for that reason, so they can get that badge of honor.
Groups like CeaseFire and other programs in our city and
schools have a unique opportunity to engage with young people
so that they understand not only that they should not be
engaging in violence but that they should in no way view
violence as something to be celebrated or something to be
aspired to. You should not look at violence or a bullet wound
as a badge of honor.
So I am a huge fan and supporter of CeaseFire. One of our
campuses is located in the Englewood community. CeaseFire has a
very strong presence in the Englewood community, and I think
they make a real positive difference.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you.
Ms. Rice, you are familiar with such groups that attempt to
intervene. Could you comment on how you have seen them work in
your community?
Ms. Rice. Gang intervention for street gang intervention is
a critical part of any comprehensive strategy where you have a
level of entrenchment and gang saturation that requires this
kind of activity.
I don't like having to work with former gang members to
help reduce the violence. That is annoying, and it is not
something that law enforcement likes to do. But Commander Green
and Chief Beck and Chief Bratton and we have learned that when
you have 100,000 gang members and you have 7 percent of them
that are violent at an extraordinary level, your city has an
epidemic. When you have an epidemic, you can't hand out fly
swatters to fight a malaria epidemic, and you can't just arrest
one at a time. You have to use things like gang intervention.
It has to be professionalized.
L.A. City, under Mayor Villaraigosa, has a gang academy. It
is the La Vida Academy. Can you believe we have an academy for
gang intervention workers to train them to work with police to
protect funeral homes, to protect emergency rooms? We don't
have emergency docs getting shot up anymore because gang
intervention intercedes. They stop the rumors, and as Chief
Beck says, their job is to stop the retaliation shooting, the
next shooting.
So I caution people. If you are going to use gang
intervention, it has to be done carefully. It has to be done
with an enormously high level of skill.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you.
Commander.
Mr. Green. My follow-up comment to that is to be effective,
it has to work hand in hand with law enforcement. They have to
coordinate, because it is a preventive strategy. We have a
candlelight vigil, and it would get shot up by another gang
looking for more victims. Now with intervention, they will call
us and ask for us to put a Black and White out.
Historically, our only strategy was that after a funeral,
when emotions are already high, we put gang cops into that
neighborhood to make sure we didn't have retaliation shootings,
and that only enflamed it more. Now I can have intervention pay
attention to that and call me if it starts to spin up. As you
build that level of interaction between law enforcement and
intervention, it is extraordinarily successful.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you.
Sheriff, in the brief time we have.
Mr. Stanek. Yes, thank you, sir. I think that intervention
also goes along with analytics. These folks talked about when
you have a shooting, you can predict in some cases,
particularly with gangs, where the next shooting is going to
happen, I don't mean right down to the individual, but most of
the time law enforcement understands what is the underlying
conflict, whether it is something ongoing, whether it is turf,
narcotics, something else. But using analytics and
intelligence-led policing, we have a pretty good idea where the
next shooting is going to occur, and it is our job to work with
our community outreach workers or whatever resources we have
available on the prevention side.
Mr. Quigley. Thank you. I want to thank my mayor for his
efforts as well.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentleman's time has expired.
The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Gowdy.
Mr. Gowdy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
holding this hearing.
My first question is for Commander Green and Sheriff
Stanek. I understand that the majority of the investigations
and prosecutions would be at the state level. For those that
may find their way into the Federal system, are there specific
statutory changes you would recommend, evidentiary changes that
you would recommend, or sentencing enhancements or sentencing
guideline changes that you would recommend for us?
Mr. Stanek. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members. Well, from
my perspective, it would be sentencing enhancements for felons
with guns and a very concerted approach by the U.S. Attorneys
to prosecute felons with firearms, those that are prohibited.
You know, every few years we see a new tactic, new
approach, a new round of whether or not they are going to work
with local law enforcement or not, or where they set that bar.
But we need the bar set fairly low. Felons in possession of a
firearm, those who are prohibited, those are the ones we need
prosecuted on the Federal level. The Federal sentencing side
versus our individual states is a big hammer to hold over their
heads and helps us combat gangs and the violence on the streets
in our communities.
Mr. Gowdy. Commander, before you answer, let me ask this,
because it has been a while since I was in the system. Way back
when, anyone under the age of 18 was considered a minor by the
Federal criminal justice system, and it required the specific
approval of the Attorney General to wave them up and prosecute
them as an adult. Is that still the case? Have you tried to
wave 16 and 17-year-olds up?
Interestingly enough, they are considered adults in most
state systems, but they are considered minors in the Federal
system.
Mr. Stanek. Mr. Chair and Members, I believe that is still
the case, and that is one of the things that maybe Congress
could help us with in local law enforcement efforts.
Mr. Gowdy. So sentencing enhancements for non-22G cases or
felon and possession cases, and getting ATF, which would be the
agency of jurisdiction, to focus on garden-variety felon and
possession cases, as opposed to what other priorities they may
feel like they have.
Mr. Stanek. Mr. Chair and Members, I would concur with
that.
Mr. Gowdy. All right.
Snitching. I had an African American chief of police in my
home city, and the biggest frustration he had was the
unwillingness of some folks to cooperate with law enforcement.
How do we get around that, and how do you also brush back
allegations of racial profiling when the gangs, in and of
themselves, are fairly homogenous and might lend themselves to
certain kind of profiling? I am not suggesting racial, but we
are kidding ourselves if we don't think some of these gangs are
homogenous.
Mr. Green. I will go back to the first part of that
question regarding what you call snitchers. I think it is
important to have the funding there to relocate witnesses so
that they feel comfortable if they testify that they won't be
killed. That is a reality in some of these neighborhoods, that
the people won't testify because they are afraid for their
life.
We come back to talking about gun and gun enhancements. In
a lot of these neighborhoods, young men feel that they have to
be armed to survive. They would much rather get caught with a
gun and prosecuted than they would get caught without a gun and
get killed. So until that comfort zone is changed, that won't
change.
The reality is we have to target behavior and violence. No
matter what community it is, it is about targeting the violent
behavior. So it doesn't matter whether it is White, Hispanic,
Black. It is about the violence. If you go back to the data, as
you look at that data and you strategically enforce, you have
to target the violent individuals and their actions to be
successful.
Mr. Gowdy. Mr. King, my final question would be to you with
respect to schools. What are they doing that is good, that is
right, that is helpful? You have the whole aspect of educable
neglect where parents are--in South Carolina, we experimented
with actually holding the parents accountable when their kids
don't go to school, which may be a novel concept in some other
parts of the country, but it made sense to us.
So what works and what doesn't work from your perspective?
Mr. King. So one of the things that we have been hearing a
lot during this testimony have been words like ``comprehensive
wrap-around'' and ``strategic approaches.'' I think the same
words apply inside schools, and if schools take a comprehensive
approach toward the education of the child, and by that I mean
not just reading, writing and arithmetic, it also means the
social and emotional development of the child. You mentioned
the issue of snitching and the perception that if you are a
witness to a crime, you should not say anything. Either you
will be retaliated against or you will be perceived negatively.
Well, an opportunity that schools have is to actually
educate young people out of that mind of thinking and educate
them to understand that they have a responsibility not just to
themselves but to their communities, and part of that
responsibility is bearing witness to what is going on and
making sure that they are taking the steps necessary to keep
themselves and others safe.
So I believe that schools that engage in those types of
practices, focusing on the social and emotional development of
children, as well as the education of their intellects, I think
are the schools that are going in the right direction.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentleman's time has expired.
The gentlewoman from California, Ms. Chu.
Ms. Chu. Well, as a Congress member from Los Angeles, I am
so proud to be here with two outstanding witnesses from Los
Angeles who have done such great work on this issue, Commander
Green from the LAPD, and Connie Rice, somebody that I have
known for many, many years in Los Angeles. In fact, she is an
icon in the Los Angeles area for doing such outstanding work on
so many different issues. Welcome to both of you.
Commander Green, it is always a pleasure to have someone
from the district who is sharing information on the positive
things that are occurring back in the community. With that
said, in your testimony you shared that Los Angeles crime is
experiencing the lowest crime rate it has seen since 1959. That
is a remarkable feat for such a large urban city.
The trend also includes a reduction in gang crime. To what
do you credit this decrease?
Mr. Green. There are a number of different things,
Congressman, Congresswoman, that attribute to the success. It
is a cocktail of suppression, intervention, but it is
partnership. It is partnership with our city family, with our
Federal partners, to actually go out and do something other
than what we have done before with suppression.
If we don't get in and build relationships in the
community, effective relationships in all parts of our
community, the police are seen as the antagonist, and with that
relationship we can't move forward.
Both the police department and the community want the same
thing. They don't want the violence predominantly. So we need
to get in, and I talked about the community safety partnership
earlier in the housing developments. For years, it has been
antagonistic. Seven months' worth of work in those developments
with 10 cops doing nothing but community work and not
suppression, we have seen dramatic reductions in shootings and
homicides because we are building a community. We are taking on
the root causes. Kids can get to school safely. They don't have
to worry about getting killed walking to and from school. Cops
are mentoring people.
A lot of people say it is not law enforcement's job to be
involved in all that. But if law enforcement isn't, we don't
have the opportunity to build those critical relationships and
the role model that we need to get information from the
community to respond to it so we can make it better.
So it is not one thing. But the Federal and the local
partnerships, it is more of a task force response. Intelligence
gathering, technology, all those things have helped
dramatically.
Ms. Chu. Ms. Rice, DOJ has several grant programs that
provide funding to state and communities to combat youth gangs,
gang-related violence, and juvenile delinquency. Are these
grant programs sufficiently flexible in their targeted purpose
areas to allow funding to be used to combat the evolving nature
of gangs? If not, what are the shortcomings, and would these
programs be appropriate to fund initiatives that can confront
all the street gangs and transnational criminal gangs? If L.A.
is showing such sustained declines in gang violence, shouldn't
some Federal funding go to funding a strategy this effective?
Ms. Rice. Yes. The comprehensive strategy is something the
DOJ understands. But there are very few places that are getting
a comprehensive footprint. It is hard to put this stuff
together. It is hard to make agencies work together, to make
people who are used to suing one another work together. It is
not easy stuff. But what we are saying from Los Angeles is that
that is what has made the difference. We all got in the boat
and rowed. We decided to become an orchestra, as opposed to
disparate musicians, and we have a conductor, Guillermo
Cespedes, and the mayor and the LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.
So it is a quantum leap of improvement, and it is hard to
do, and it goes against all of the political DNA that we have.
We have these Darwinian competitive funding strategies. It is
inadequate levels of funding, and it is not strategic enough.
So I think that the Federal dollars could go much further
if they insisted on, where there is a high enough level to
warrant it, this comprehensive wrap-around approach, as opposed
to funding just--now, we have to fund the Thousand Points of
Light, too. We have to fund the individual service-givers. We
have to fund the individual schools. Those are very, very
critical. It is not either/or. You have got to do both/and.
I am not sure that the Federal level gets what we are
talking about. It hasn't been seen anywhere. You have seen
intervention interruption. You have seen wonderful schools. You
have seen disparate points of light. You have not seen the
halogen torch of the comprehensive strategy yet. And in L.A.,
we just have a footprint. We haven't done the full wrap-around
yet. We don't have the county agencies yet. We have to reform
probation. I may have to do another lawsuit. We may be back in
lawsuit territory there. But they have $24 billion of our
money, and these kids are drowning in these institutions.
So we have a long way to go in L.A. But what we are here to
say is that war didn't get us but so far. We backed away from
war on each other and war on gangs, and started doing war on
the violence and the conditions that hurt these kids, and as a
result, the crime has plummeted, the trust has gone up, and we
are seeing whole new dynamics.
What I would love for this Committee to do is to take the
new threats, which are real, but take a step back and don't do
the normal throw more money. Yes, law enforcement needs more
resources, but mainly for cyber crime. We have enough laws. We
have enough enhancements. We have enough folks going to prison.
What we don't have is a strategy that is smart enough to start
getting to the cultural mindset, norm change, behavior change
that will end the cult of death that gets passed on with gang
members. That is what we need to be after.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
The gentleman from Utah, Mr. Chaffetz.
Mr. Chaffetz. Thank you. I thank the Chairman for calling
this, and I appreciate the four panelists here today. I can
sense your passion about this issue, and so I appreciate you
being here today.
I wasn't planning to ask you this, but I want to fill up on
what you just said about more--if I heard correctly, Ms. Rice--
more money about cyber crime. Explain that to me.
Ms. Rice. The new threats are fascinating to me. It is from
the cartels. The cartels have been in L.A. for at least 20
years, but now they're really setting up shop. So the
transnational nature has expanded. But the--I'm sorry. What was
the question?
Mr. Chaffetz. About the cyber.
Ms. Rice. Yes, cyberspace. I'm sorry. I'm 56 and I have no
short-term memory.
That has increased by 1,500 percent. The smart gangsters
are no longer hanging out on the corners. Those are the
dummies, okay? The smart guys have gone now--they are online,
and the new victim class is the middle class. They are going
after our bank accounts, okay? So the smart gangsters, they are
all in cyberspace now, and they are scary smart, all right?
They are probably not going to get caught now.
It is no longer about being on the corner slinging dope or
threatening people. They are not into that anymore. So this is
morphing into the more organized crime area where you are
really after money. You are not about identity and turf, and we
have to make sure that our strategies match the ecology of the
gang and the psychology of the gang.
So law enforcement needs money to get really smart, geeky
guys, like the Big Bang Theory guys, into law enforcement,
okay? I love that show. I just discovered it. I am so slow, I
didn't even know it was on.
But bottom line, they have got to be super smart. We have
to get those kinds of brains into law enforcement. That is
going to take a lot of money. They don't even have the right
kinds of laptops. We need the technology reimbursed.
I am not about taking money from law enforcement. I am
about boosting the prevention and intervention and the wrap-
around strategies at the same time you fund them working
together.
Mr. Chaffetz. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. I think
in many ways you are right, that those are major concerns.
In the few minutes that I have left, maybe perhaps starting
with the Commander, I want to talk about the prison aspect of
this because I worry that what is supposed to conceptually be
the Department of Corrections really ends up being more of a
breeding ground and a training ground to take somebody who has
maybe been a bad actor, and instead of putting them in the
right direction, the rate of recidivism and other things goes
up, and they come out with more contacts, more information,
more knowledge, and become more dangerous.
I mean, is that just a fallacy? Is that just a perception
that we get on television, or is that the reality of what you
are seeing on the streets?
Mr. Green. That is the reality of what we see on the
streets, sir. You send an individual that is a poor criminal
into the criminal justice system, he comes out a very good
criminal.
Mr. Chaffetz. So what do we do about that?
Mr. Green. One of the things we have to do is, typically
within the first 24, 48, 72 hours, those first couple of weeks
are critical when they get out to stop them from going back to
the same pattern that they have had historically when they are
on the street. They start hanging out with the same folks who
start using the same substances that they did before. Before
you know it, they have offended and they are back in custody,
and that is why we have the recidivism rate that we do.
We look at the comprehensive strategy of preparing them for
life on the street, it has to be what tools to avoid that. We
have talked about it. We have started looking at reentry. We
have toyed with it, but we haven't put enough effort into
reentry, especially in the day we live in now in California.
Lots of folks coming back out, and unless we are able to give
them those tools to survive, they are going to go right back
into the system.
Mr. Chaffetz. Sheriff?
Mr. Stanek. Mr. Chair and Members, I think it is a great
question, and I concur with the Commander about reentry. Many
of the folks who come out of our prisons--and I come from
Minnesota. We have one of the lowest incarceration rates,
highest probation rates anywhere in the country. But reentry is
what is important to us.
We have to give these folks basic job skills, housing, keep
them out of that life of crime, help turn them around. It
starts when they are in prison through some of the programs,
but really when they get out, that support network to help them
succeed, because we all know that the vast majority of the
folks who go to prison are coming back up.
Mr. King. If I could just add something, I think it should
not come as a surprise to any of us that someone who goes to
prison because they didn't feel they had any opportunity or any
options, we shouldn't be surprised that when they leave prison
they don't feel like they have any options and opportunities.
So it is critical that we do education on both ends, that
we educate before to try to keep people from going into prison,
but then if they do go to prison, we have to make sure we are
educating them when they come out, as has been said, but also
that we are making sure that as a society we are providing
opportunities as opposed to stigma for folks who come out of
prison. Otherwise, they will have no choice but to go back to
the same ways that got them in prison in the first place.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentleman's time has expired.
The gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson. Thank you. It seems to me that all across the
Nation, there is a stigma in the urban areas in terms of being
Black and being a male, and that leads to a disproportionate
share of our prison system, both state and Federal, being
represented by that particular demographic, Black males, young
Black males in particular.
But I refuse to believe that there are not other criminal
gangs who have a different hue than the Latino or the African
American street gangs. Gangs are doing other things, like
trafficking in drugs in the suburbs, in the rural areas. There
even are prison gangs, such as the Aryan Brotherhood or the
Nazi Lowriders, and even a gang like the Mafia. I know we don't
call them a gang, but those kinds of organizations may be a
little more difficult to investigate and bring charges against
than just a street-level group of young people calling
themselves the Fabulous 25 or some group like that.
It is easy to get those street-level crack dealers and lock
them up. Sentencing guidelines, send them away for a long time,
it is easy to do that. We have assault weapons out there. Have
you seen an increase in the number of assault weapons on the
streets, Commander Green and Sheriff Stanek?
Mr. Green. In Los Angeles, we have seen that increase for
the last 20 years. We have had assault weapons on the street.
It is not a new phenomenon. It stayed, and the consistency of
those numbers has never slowed down.
Mr. Stanek. Yes, Mr. Chair and Members. You are absolutely
correct, Congressman. We have seen a dramatic increase in the
amount of assault weapons, even some automatic weapons. You
have seen law enforcement go from 38-caliber revolvers to semi-
automatic handguns. We have transitioned from 12-gauge shotguns
to semi-automatic rifles, just to match the fire power.
Mr. Johnson. Okay. Thank you. Now, the people trafficking
in those weapons are not street-level drug dealers, but they do
end up with some of these weapons. There is no doubt about
that. What kind of focus do we have on where those guns are
coming from, who is trafficking in those guns? Could it be the
folks at the unlicensed gun dealers at the gun shows that make
their way around the country? Are the unlicensed gun-show
dealers criminals themselves? What kind of record do they have?
Who organizes all of these gun shows going across the country,
and what happens to the multitude of weapons that end up on the
streets of America, in the inner cities? What happens with
those groups? We don't see a lot or we don't hear anything
about the prosecution of Aryan Nation gang members for selling
drugs on the outside of prison, some kind of a network.
Can you talk to us about the street-based, racist gangs?
Are they gangs? Are they considered gangs, and is the Mafia
considered a gang?
Mr. Green. Sure. When it comes to street-based enforcement,
we target the most violent areas. As the Sheriff talked about
earlier, we use data, and that pushes our enforcement so we can
try to stop the violence.
As with narcotics, with guns, we partner with the ATF, and
we have continued partnerships with the Federal entities. And
just as we do with narcotics, we try to work narcotics
backwards from that street dealer as with guns. We get guns off
suspects in the street. We get them in homicide investigations.
We roll back in partnership to try to find out where that gun
came from. And then as they can, we work with our Federal
partner for Federal prosecutions if you get violations of that
Federal law.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentleman's time has expired.
Before recognizing the gentlewoman from Florida, Mrs.
Adams, the Chair will state that if any other Members come in
before Ms. Adams concludes her questioning, they will be
recognized. But if they come in once I have recognized Mr.
Scott and then myself for wrapping up the questions, they won't
be recognized.
The gentlewoman from Florida is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Adams. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I appreciate the
witnesses here. I am going to come at it a little bit different
since I spent over 17 years in law enforcement and have
investigated a lot of these crimes.
I heard my colleague talking about basically racial-based
gangs. There are those, but there are mostly gangs that have
become the family, so to speak, ``families'' of these children
or these young adults. Would any of you disagree with that
fact?
So with that, what we have seen is, with the breakdown of
the family unit over the years, a lot of these young adults and
young children have come to be involved in gangs based on the
family-style unit that they present. And even though I don't
agree with the enforcer that they have in the units or those
type of things, I think they are very dangerous for our
communities and for our families.
I have listened to a lot of this, and I am amazed to hear
and see that we have such international gangs such as the
Somali gangs, Sheriff, that you have, that you are dealing with
in your county. Can you explain to me a little bit about that?
How are the Somali gangs different than other gangs you have
seen come into your area? I mean, I have seen the multinational
gangs come into our area in Florida, so I was just kind of
curious.
Mr. Stanek. Sure. Mr. Chair and Members, with Somali gangs,
as I had indicated earlier, a different way of policing, much
more culture-centric, different techniques and tactics than
maybe some of the other traditional gangs we have talked about
here this morning, all the way from witness tampering to--you
know, they are not so much narcotics-based, like some street
gangs that are turf oriented, but rather they do so for other
reasons, some cultural, some specific, but it requires a
different law enforcement response.
Mrs. Adams. And isn't it true that gang members don't
normally go to gun shops or gun shows to purchase guns? They
are usually buying them on the black market or through avenues
other than anything that would be otherwise seen as legal?
Mr. Stanek. Yes. Mr. Chair and Members, I think you are
right on. What we see in our communities across the United
States from the local law enforcement perspective is primarily
through straw purchases. Someone who is legally able to
purchase a firearm will go in, make that purchase, and then
sell it to someone else. Either they had that intent when they
walked into that gun store, or bought from an FFL, a Federal
Firearms Licensed dealer, or they got that idea afterwards.
But each of these guns that we recover on the street,
working with our ATF partners in these task forces, we trace
those guns back to the source, and that is what gives us our
information and an indication of where these guns actually come
from and what we are seeing today.
Mrs. Adams. And the source could also be from burglaries,
thefts, things of that nature?
Mr. Stanek. Yes. Mr. Chair and Members, as I indicated
earlier, we see a lot of it. I indicated there was a gun store
burglary in Minnetonka, Minnesota. I think 57 or 58 firearms
were taken. Twenty-seven of those 58 have not been recovered.
But for those other 30-plus, we found them at shootings,
robberies, homicides. So the purpose of that burglary was to
put those guns in the hands of criminals, primarily the local
street gangs.
Mrs. Adams. And, Ms. Rice, I was looking at something that
you had written on pages 147 and 148 of your book. You tell a
very disturbing story about a child soldier who did the killing
for his gang and merely would have to go to juvenile. It says,
``to JV.'' I have seen that also in my community where I was a
law enforcement officer in central Florida, where sometimes the
youngest, because of their age in the gang, would be given the
most violent acts so that they would only be given a very small
sentence based on their age, not like someone in an older age
group would get. Would you like to elaborate on that?
Ms. Rice. Yes, thank you. I absolutely agree with you that
the exploitation of the youngest ones is an outrage, and it is
our failure. What are we doing letting gangs take ahold of
little kids and turn them into assassins? When I met my first
child assassin, I was appalled at myself first. Where was I
when they turned this kid? How do we allow children to fall
into the hands of these fiends? And that started my journey.
So for me, we have to protect children. If we can't keep
kids safe enough to go to school, what are we doing? We are not
running a democracy here. If we allow this to happen in our
backyards, we are failing, together we are failing as adults.
So I am glad that you brought that up. This, for me, is
about the children. The poorest rural children are now
suffering in a methamphetamine economy that we are not
addressing, and it isn't going to help to just lock up all of
their parents. We have got to look at that ecosystem with an
eye toward protecting these children and dealing with the root
causes. You give these families an alternative to cooking meth,
they are not going to be doing this stuff.
So I am really begging the Committee to take a very hard
look at the harder work of doing these wrap-around ecosystem
strategies that get at the root causes. That is how you protect
kids. You don't let these neighborhoods and these hot spots
sink to a level where we can actually find kids being taken out
of their families, given a gun and instructed in how to murder.
That is what I found in Los Angeles. That is what I said in my
book was unacceptable. You don't let children die like this,
and we have no excuse for it in this country.
But if we keep just focusing on locking people up, we are
not going to get to the wrap-around strategies.
Mrs. Adams. Thank you.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
The gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Scott, the Ranking Member
of the Subcommittee.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Rice, we heard about the desirability of trying more
juveniles as adults. Don't all the studies on trying more
juveniles as adults conclude that if you pursue that policy,
the crime rate will increase?
Ms. Rice. I don't know whether the crime rate is going to
increase. What I do know is that our level of failure is going
to increase. There are some juveniles that should be
prosecuted----
Mr. Scott. If you increase the number. Not if you try any
juveniles, but if you increase the number of juveniles being
tried, the crime rate will go up? Not just trying any juvenile.
Some juveniles, like you said, but they are all being tried as
adults now. If you increase the number, you are talking about
the marginal children that the studies have shown the crime
rate will go up because they will be treated in a situation
where they can either be locked up or let go, no services that
can be provided in the juvenile facilities.
Ms. Rice. Congressman, you bring up a very important point
because the kids that I find, the vast majority of them, if you
put them into prison, it is like graduate school. It is like
college for crime.
Mr. Scott. That is what happens when you try more juveniles
as adults.
Ms. Rice. That is right. When they get out and we haven't
reformed them, we haven't rehabilitated them.
Mr. Scott. One of the things you talked about is investing
in prevention, early intervention, wrap-around services, and
obviously that costs money. That is what we are trying to do
with the Youth Promise Act. Can you give me an idea of how much
Los Angeles County spends right now on incarceration?
Ms. Rice. On incarceration?
Mr. Scott. Right. Is it fair to say that it is billions? I
was told that $11 billion is the state budget for corrections.
Forty percent of the inmates were from Los Angeles.
Ms. Rice. It is definitely billions statewide. It is
definitely billions statewide.
Mr. Scott. But those from Los Angeles that go into the
state system, plus Sheriff Baca's budget, has got to be at
least half-a-billion dollars, or more counting juveniles.
The mayor's Gang Reduction Youth Development program, do I
understand that costs $168 million?
Ms. Rice. I wish that much was spent on it, but it is more
like--my understanding is that it is closer to--it is below
$100 million.
Mr. Scott. But compared to the corrections budget, it is
peanuts.
Ms. Rice. It is tiny.
Mr. Scott. Now, Boyle Heights, I understand there is a 44
percent reduction in crime in Boyle Heights?
Ms. Rice. That sounds right.
Mr. Scott. Do you know whether or not the teen pregnancy
rate also went down? Because usually when you have a good crime
prevention program, you prevent crime, dropouts, drug abuse,
and teen pregnancy.
Ms. Rice. Teen pregnancy in Los Angeles County has been
going down for the last 5 years.
Mr. Scott. You mentioned a difference between MS-13 and
other street gangs. Why should they be treated different,
differently?
Ms. Rice. Because you want to be effective. If you don't
understand the etymology of the gang, you can respond to it in
a way that actually makes it stronger and spreads its mindset.
So street gangs and turf, old-fashioned street gangs where you
have kids running away from stuff and finding an alternative
family, they have to be treated differently from folks who are
heading up Yakuza and the Russian mob and the Italian mob and
all of those, and the cartels, the cartels, the drug cartels.
Mr. Scott. And for those very serious cartel-type gangs on
the one side, but the others should be treated with wrap-around
services. Can you tell us a little bit about what those wrap-
around services are?
Ms. Rice. Yes. You do an analysis of the hot spot. You
figure out what the dynamics are and who the players are. Then
you design a system to go after each cohort of kids, because we
focus on children. That is probably because women are heading
this. We focus on the kids, and we are trying to keep those
kids safe, not just the kids who are at risk of going into the
gang, because there is risk prevention--Deputy Mayor Guillermo
Cespedes has a pioneered prevention strategy that shows that
already a 30 percent reduction in risk factors, a 49 percent
reduction in gang affiliation. We are talking about gang
families. Everybody in the family is a part of the gang. But
this newest generation that Deputy Mayor Cespedes is working
with has now decided that they are going to go with a more
establishment, mainstream, higher level of values and not join
the gang.
We have got to sustain that. That takes money. We are doing
this at a pilot level. But, Congressman, if we don't get the
investment on this side of Sears, the softer side of Sears, the
investment healing side, we are going to just have to do more
and more shock and awe, which doesn't work.
Mr. Scott. Let me see if I can get another question in to
Mr. King. When students are in your facility and have other
opportunities, do they join gangs?
Mr. King. Absolutely we have students who are approached
and recruited to be in gangs. We view our job or one of our
jobs as being to make sure that our students understand that
they can say no and that there is a pathway to avoid that type
of life.
I think that something that we all kind of know but we
don't really have an opportunity to think about or articulate
is that schools can be gangs. We can create very positive gangs
within our school systems. We have to be intentional about
doing that. What is it that a person who joins a gang, a young
person who joins a gang is looking for? Resources, respect, a
sense of community, family. These are things that we can
provide inside our schools. Many of the best schools in this
country, whether they be elementary, high school, colleges or
universities, have very strong cultures. What are strong
positive cultures but another way of doing gangs.
And so I think that the work that we do at Urban Prep is
very intentional around creating a culture of belonging, a
culture of achievement, a culture of an alternative option and
pathway to success. And if all schools or more schools did that
type of thing, I think we would see greater levels of success
with our young people and keeping them safe and keeping them
out of gangs.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. The gentleman's time has expired. The
Chair will recognize himself for the final round of
questioning.
Let me start with you, Ms. Rice. I get a little concerned
every once in a while that various types of law enforcement
agencies don't work together, and they don't likely interact
with what I will refer to generically as educational and social
services agencies. Who is out of the loop in Los Angeles?
Ms. Rice. Who is out of the loop? Well, the folks who are
AWOL, in my humble opinion, are a number of the county
agencies. The county has most of the safety net in L.A. We need
probation at the table. We need the county services to be in
conjunction with the cities. What we have done at the city
level has got to be expanded to the county level.
The other missing pieces that we do not have are the job
creation pieces. Father Greg Boyle is absolutely right. The
only epidemiological long-term study that correlates with the
reduction in violent gang crime in Los Angeles is a
longitudinal study that showed the only factor that correlated
with the reduction was job creation. If you gave these guys a
job--and when we do the Summer Night Lights, Congressman, you
will be amazed. You know what the gangsters ask for? We have to
actually ask permission to do these programs because they have
so much control in L.A. When we ask them, when intervention
goes in, do you want to know what they ask for? They want to be
trained as firefighters. They want to become cops. They want
mainstream jobs. That piece of it is completely not there.
So we have a partial comprehensive footprint in L.A. We are
doing more than any other region in the country. That is why
our gang crime, in my opinion, is still going down, while
everybody else's is spiking. We could lose it in a year. We
could get a new crack. We could get a new threat from the
cartels, and it could all go up in smoke. But for this 5 years,
Mr. Chairman, we have had an incredible run.
Take a look at our stats. You won't find them anywhere.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. They are very impressive.
Let me ask one question about the prisons. Are the prisons
in the loop in having an integrated way of attacking this?
Because we have had testimony here that the cartels are
basically using the lock-up as their headquarters.
Ms. Rice. The prisons are completely out of the loop. In
fact, they are part of the problem. I can't crack the
corrections guards. I am too tired and too old. Somebody else
is going to have to take that fight.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. I think there are a few governors of
your state that have had that problem, too.
Ms. Rice. Absolutely. I don't understand how the prison
gangs and the cartels control what goes on in the streets. Now,
there is a double-edged sword here. I think that our drive-bys,
you don't hear about drive-bys anymore. We used to have seven,
eight, eleven a week, drive-bys, drive-by shootings. Nuts, just
annihilation of people at bus stops and stuff. You don't hear
about that as much in L.A. Why? Because the prison gang put out
an order that said if you do any more drive-bys that hit kids,
you are going to be dead by noon.
It is a very complicated, perverted situation because the
control is so high. They control our prisons. There are days I
can't go into California prisons because the gangs are acting
up.
So I think we need to stop our delusion about who is in
control here. They collect taxes. They run drug cartels. We do
need targeted suppression that goes after organized crime, but
we need to distinguish that from saturating a community, taking
all of the men and young men out of that community, and then
that community dies because we have locked everybody up.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Okay. Let me ask one question of
Commander Green and Sheriff Stanek. In 2002, Chairman Conyers,
soon-to-be Chairman Conyers and I as the Chairman of the
Committee ended up putting together a Department of Justice
reauthorization bill, which was the first that was passed in 23
years, which did pass both houses and was signed by the
President.
One of the features of that bill was to try to make the
Department of Justice grants more fungible so that you could
move money around within the various DOJ programs. What has
been your experience, each of you, on whether it is fungible
enough in terms of what you have to do to do your job to combat
gangs?
Who wants to be first?
Mr. Green. I talked about the Federal partnerships earlier.
A lot of those Federal partnerships are successful because of
the funding that they bring and the ability to move that
around.
Things on the street change continuously, Congressman, and
for us to be agile enough to address those problems, that
funding source has got to be able to move around, whether it is
between the FBI or DEA or ATF, so that they can----
Mr. Sensenbrenner. I was talking about the local grant
programs. Before that, when a local municipality applied for a
Federal grant, they have to try to make sure that they applied
for a grant in each of the cubbyholes, and they got money for
each of the cubbyholes, and then when they did get the grant,
they couldn't move it out of the cubbyhole that they got the
grant in. Have you experienced a problem with that?
Mr. Green. I have. Specifically, as we identify those
needs, what I would like to see is the funding to look
specifically at the need and be able to move it around for that
need, because if we apply for grant funding today, it could be
months, more like years before that grant funding becomes
available. By the time it is available, the technology has
changed, the need has changed. So a quicker system----
Mr. Sensenbrenner. So what you are telling us is DOJ ought
to speed up the grant approval process.
Mr. Green. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Sheriff Stanek, you are last but not
least.
Mr. Stanek. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair and Members, and
thank you very much for allowing us to testify today.
On behalf of sheriffs across this country, I would concur
with what you just suggested, which is to give us the ability
that when we apply for a grant, that we don't have to target
each individual grant but rather can use those monies as the
needs dictate.
Every day in my agency of 1,000-plus personnel and
volunteers, we re-prioritize, re-focus what we are doing in
order to combat what is happening on the streets or in our
communities. That grant funding is important and essential to
us to be able to do that, whether it is burn JAG monies,
whether it is cops monies, you name it. But I need to be able
to have that flexibility because what happens today may change
6 months, 12 months, 18 months down the road for us.
Mr. Sensenbrenner. Well, thank you very much. This has been
a hearing that is much more enlightening, educational and
hopeful than I had planned it would be when I walked into the
room and started it out. I would like to thank all of you for
really doing a very good job in pointing out differing ways to
approach the gang problem. So thanks for coming to D.C. and
sharing your views with us.
Without objection, all Members will have 5 legislative days
to submit to the Chair additional written questions for the
witnesses, which we will forward and ask the witnesses to
respond as promptly as they can so that they may be made part
of the record.
And without objection, all Members will have 5 legislative
days to submit any additional materials for inclusion in the
record.
With that, again, I thank the witnesses, and without
objection, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:33 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]