Council votes against part of anti-gang plan

COSTA MESA — City Council members on Tuesday rejected a plan to fund a gang-intervention specialist for local schools, even as they voted to support a comprehensive anti-gang initiative proposed by city police.

Council members voted unanimously in support of the anti-gang plan, but the majority had reservations about parts, such as the school program.

It’s the second time they’ve rejected a proposed $65,000 grant to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and this time it was despite a strong recommendation from the police chief. In January, they nixed the funding in a 3-2 vote, and Tuesday’s vote split along the same lines, with Councilwomen Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley supporting the school gang-prevention program. Mayor Allan Mansoor and council members Eric Bever and Wendy Leece voted against it, saying they aren’t convinced that prevention is effective.

“The words ‘effectiveness’ and ‘accountability’ have been mentioned,” Mansoor said. “I haven’t seen it just yet. The school district has $8 million [in federal funding] for this program so far…. I need to see some hard and fast numbers of its accountability and success before I can support it.”

The proposed grant would have funded a liaison to coordinate the police’s and school district’s anti-gang efforts. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District already operates the federally funded anti-gang program Project ASK.

City officials recently stepped up their efforts to eliminate gangs, whose membership has swelled in Costa Mesa over the last decade. Serious gang-related crimes, such as murder, robbery and assault, increased to 29 in 2006 from six in 2005, according to Police Department data.

Costa Mesa Police Chief Christopher Shawkey’s solution was a plan that included adding two gang officers, using surveillance cameras in troublesome areas, working with the school district, and adopting a daytime curfew to fight truancy.

“I believe that I have to trust the chief of police … to tell us how to eliminate gangs,” Foley said.

Costa Mesa Police Capt. Ron Smith told the council before the vote that prevention is essential to eradicating gangs.

“I just don’t think, looking at the circumstances here and comparing it to gang research across the nation, that we can enforce our way out of this problem,” Smith said. “I don’t think we can ever get rid of our gang problem unless we stop the recruitment. To do that I think we need to have very strong prevention and intervention.”

The daytime curfew appears dead for now because council members didn’t vote on it or ask for further discussion.

A number of residents at the meeting urged the council not to enact a daytime curfew. Tim Kuhlmann told the council that involvement from parents and the community would be more effective.

“It’s like painting your windowsill by throwing a gallon of paint at your window,” he said. “It’s just too broad.”