Plan aims to eliminate gangs in 5 years

Costa Mesa City Councilwoman Katrina Foley is backing an ambitious plan she believes can completely rid the city of gangs within five years.

The plan would cost about $383,000 a year and entails adding two officers to the Police Department’s gang unit, contracting with a probation officer to serve the city full-time, and stepping up collaboration with agencies that provide kids an alternative to gangs.

Costa Mesa Police Capt. Ron Smith and Lt. Clay Epperson helped develop the plan and are confident that it will work, but first it has to be funded. The City Council will consider including the anti-gang plan in the 2006-07 budget at a June 20 hearing.

“We’re kind of in a unique position in that we don’t have entrenched, intergenerational, barrio-style gangs,” Smith said in an interview.

“We don’t think that it’s so enrooted that we can’t yank the roots out altogether.”

The Police Department’s gang unit now includes four officers and one sergeant who supervises. The officers are on a staggered schedule, so two work the first half of the week and the other two cover the last half.

The pairs patrol together for safety, so if one of the officers has to go to court or takes vacation, for example, the other ends up doing desk work, Smith said.

Bringing two more officers onto the gang unit would mean a more consistent presence in the community, which is a key to keeping tabs on and preventing gang activity, he said.

Under the plan, the department’s school resource officers would be more involved with gathering information, and a full-time probation officer could closely supervise at-risk kids to keep them out of trouble.

The other part of the two-pronged approach is prevention. Foley wants the Police Department to work more closely with organizations such as Save Our Youth, which provides after-school homework help and a safe place for kids to hang out, and Youth Employment Service, which helps young people get their first jobs.

Kids often join gangs, Foley said, because they’re looking for an identity and they may not have strong connections with their school, family or organized activities.

“It’s kind of like being part of a team. It’s just not a good team to be a part of,” Foley said.

The city could apply for grants to fund partnerships with youth-centered groups and hire an intervention specialist to make sure kids take advantage of them, she said.

“It’s got to be for the long haul,” Smith said. “The City Council and the city and the Police Department have got to be committed to it for the whole five years.”

As proposed, the cost would total about $1.9 million. It’s unclear if the full council will want to make that commitment.

Mayor Allan Mansoor, who works as an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, said public safety should be the council’s “prime focus,” but he didn’t give an opinion on Foley’s plan.

Trevor Murphy, director of Save Our Youth, said the gang problem is more of a social issue than a crime issue, and it will require efforts by schools and the wider community as well.

“I think five years is a pretty optimistic time frame,” he said. “I think realistically you have to give yourself a generation to eradicate [gangs]. That’s not to say you can’t make a big dent.”