[Vision2020] SR: Gang Activity Part I

[Kai Eiselein, editor]

Former Police Chief Terry Mangan warned Spokane about an impedending problem
with gangs way back in the mid 80's. He was poo-pooed by the adminstration
and much of the citizenry.
There was a  time when it was safe to walk through Riverfront Park in the
middle of the night. Although the area around where the old bus station was
(West First) was rough, its bark was worse than its bite. I spent a bit of
time there, as I was involved with a theatre in the area (123 Arts)  and
spent many nights shooting photos of the street life in the area and
visiting with locals at the Carriage House restaurant.
By 1993, gang activity was noticable in several areas of the city, including
Hillyard, the East Central area, the West Central area and the West First
area, still, little was done to stem the tide.
Spoakne had its chance, it blew it.
  -----Original Message-----
  From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of Art Deco
  Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 10:06 AM
  To: Vision 2020
  Subject: [Vision2020] SR: Gang Activity Part I


  This article which appeared Sunday is the first in a series about gangs.
I do not know if Moscow/Latah County has a gang or gang related problem, but
I am concerned about the tagging that has been occurring lately.  Not all
tagging is done by gang members, but tagging is a gang activity.

  Having lived in areas where gang activity was a problem, I can vouch that
if not stopped at the beginning of an infestation, the results of gang
activity are destructive and tragic.  I noticed a couple of years ago signs
of gang activity in Pullman.  I think that LE there is at least aware of the
problem and is taking measures.

  I hope both the MPD and the LCSD are taking the tagging incidents very
seriously and are also investigating possible gang connections.  Now is the
time for serious prevention strategies.



  Wayne A. Fox
  1009 Karen Lane
  PO Box 9421
  Moscow, ID  83843

  (208) 882-7975
  waf at moscow.com






     Monday, March 19, 2007


  Spokane
  Street fight
  Increasing gang membership and related violence have mobilized Spokane law
enforcement agencies
  Jody Lawrence-Turner
  Staff writer
  March 18, 2007



              Young men flash gang symbols while socializing near the
Spokane Transit Authority Plaza. According to the Spokane Police
Department's Gang Enforcement Team, there are 7,000 gang associates and 900
gang members in Spokane. (Jed Conklin)


              Also: How to read gang graffiti

              Photos: More images with this story

              Audio: Spokane Police Officer Mike Roberge, a Gang Enforcement
Team member, on gang culture, respect and gang members


              Graphic: Gang nations


              Graphic: Gang members in Spokane



  The way witnesses tell it, Derek Wilson walked into a downtown skate park
and fired his semiautomatic handgun.

  Police say it was an attempted robbery gone bad.

  Behind Wilson's alleged target were homes, a hospital, and Lewis and Clark
High School. Teens were there, too, that sunny day earlier this month,
skating under the Interstate 90 viaduct.

  Officers arrested Wilson a few blocks away and seized a handgun and crack
cocaine found in the car he was driving. The 20-year-old, who police say
associates with a Spokane offshoot of a Chicago-based gang called Folk, was
charged with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a
controlled substance.

  Luck, or bad aim, prevented the bullet from hitting anyone. Next time,
someone could be killed – a rival gang member or an innocent bystander,
perhaps a child.

  And make no mistake: There will be a next time.

  Spokane has a growing gang problem, police say, a fact they're anxious for
people outside law enforcement to acknowledge and begin addressing before
the community starts seeing violence on the scale of gang-saturated Tacoma.

  Since summer, police say, the number of confirmed gang members in Spokane
has risen by 350, to more than 900 members representing some 50 gangs. The
dramatic increase in recent months is partly due to a concentrated law
enforcement focus on identifying members.

  Almost weekly, police respond to stabbings, drive-by shootings or violent
assaults they believe are gang-related. The Spokane County Jail typically
holds more than 600 inmates, and at any time about a quarter are associated
with gangs, authorities say.

  There may be as many as 7,000 "gang associates" – young people who aren't
documented gang members but who are trying to act like them. Authorities say
the wannabes are dangerous because they are willing to commit violent crimes
in order to be initiated into a gang.

  "The situation is definitely something that this community needs to
address now," said Spokane County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Mike Kittilstved.
"We still have the opportunity to make a huge impact; to make these people
go elsewhere or to prison."

  Authorities say gangs mostly draw teens and young adults – both genders,
generally between the ages of 14 and 24.

  Brant McIver, who police have confirmed is a gang member, said
authorities' concern is justifiable.

  "Drugs are (gangs') business and they have to have guns to protect
themselves," said McIver, 27, who has about 60 criminal convictions. He was
released from the Spokane County Jail earlier this month after doing a
year's time for obstruction of justice and a minor assault.

  McIver said he was 14 years old when he and some of his Spokane buddies
formed a small group of Sureños, a Latino gang.

  Being in a gang offers support, togetherness and protection, he said. "We
hang out together. We fight together. We sell dope together."

  A melting pot

  Gangs first migrated to Washington in the late 1980s, mainly from
California. They were hiding from California's more aggressive law
enforcement and rival gangs, and the move was good for their enterprise –
selling crack cocaine.

  Word spread that the Inland Northwest was an untapped market and it wasn't
too gang-savvy.

  Police say they confirmed 25 gang members in Spokane in 1985.

  Since then, the area has become a melting pot of gangs, with members
migrating here from Chicago, Texas, New York, Las Vegas, St. Louis and
Georgia, among other places.

  Of the 50 recognized gangs in the area, 10 evolved locally, Spokane Police
Officer Mike Roberge said. Those 50 are subsets of six groups: Crips,
Bloods, Folk, People, Norteños and Sureños.

  The recent surge in gang activity began after the death of Frank Silva,
who police say was a Crips member, on April 28, 2005.

  Dustin A. Davis, who police say is a member of a rival Crips gang, was
convicted of shooting Silva near Holmes Elementary School. Gang members
still memorialize Silva through graffiti on rundown garages facing the alley
where he died.

  Spokane authorities became more concerned after seven drive-by shootings
occurred in January 2006, a time of year when gang activity usually slows
because of winter weather. That prompted the Spokane County Sheriff's Office
and Spokane Police Department to dedicate extra officers to gang
enforcement.

  The Gang Enforcement Team, or GET, formed later that year, with the two
local agencies; the FBI; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Washington Department of Corrections.

  "I think what we've been presented here is an opportunity to be
proactive," said FBI agent Frank Harrill, a GET member. "It is not yet the
type of problem other larger cities are experiencing."

  Spokane's appeal

  Authorities say many gang members come to Spokane to avoid arrest or
escape death threats from rival gang members. Others come to live with
relatives. Drugs like methamphetamine and crack bring higher prices here
than in cities that are less isolated and have more gangs.

  "You aren't looking over your shoulder all the time," said 26-year-old
Josephus McDonald, who police say is a founder of one of Spokane's larger
homegrown Crips gangs. McDonald was sentenced last month to more than six
years in prison for attempting to run over an officer. "Spokane is not
really a gang-bang town," he said in a recent jailhouse interview. Because
few gangs originated in Spokane, the issue between gang members isn't
territorial like it is in Tacoma, where organized groups often fight over
control of city blocks or neighborhood streets.

  "There aren't that many prominent 'hoods here," McDonald said.

  Tacoma, with nearly the same population as Spokane, has about twice the
number of gang members, according to the FBI.

  Tacoma police logged more than 60 shootings and drive-bys in 2006, and two
gang members were shot and killed, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.

  LaShaii Brown, a 34-year-old former Tacoma Crips member who served 17
years in prison for assaults and other crimes, said Spokane is much less
dangerous than where he spent his youth. Brown said he moved here three
years ago to get away from his roots. Police, who confirm Brown's gang
background, say he's stayed out of trouble in Spokane, except for a fight
last year.

  "They aren't real gangsters" in Spokane, Brown said. "They just shoot when
they have to because they are out in the streets trying to make money.
Ninety-nine percent of these kids out here won't die for their gang set."

  In denial

  Last year, the Spokane County prosecutor's gang team filed 343 felony
cases and charged 1,633 crimes, said chief criminal prosecutor Jack
Driscoll. Since the police emphasis began last year, authorities have
confiscated more than 100 guns and seized several pounds of drugs.

  Nearly $1 million from city, county and federal sources is spent annually
on gang enforcement in this area, authorities said.

  Spokane's gang problem was recently brought to the attention of U.S. Sen.
Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who met with the GET in February.

  Earlier this month, the GET team was awarded $95,514 by the U.S.
Department of Justice to fight gangs.

  But authorities believe Spokane-area residents are still in denial about
the gang problem, and they say solving it no longer can be left up to law
enforcement alone.

  "The community has a bigger role in this than they realize," said
Kittilstved, who is a GET member. "People can help by providing strong role
models, good work ethics and not glorifying gang life. People get hurt and
killed all the time when they are involved in gangs and that destroys
families."

  Society has bombarded kids with music, movies and video games that glorify
the gang lifestyle. Examples: Snoop Dogg, a rapper and self-proclaimed Crips
gangster who often sings about the lifestyle; "Grand Theft Auto," a video
game in which players rise in the ranks of organized crime by committing
increasingly violent acts; and "The Source" magazine, which shows gang
members flashing signs on several pages in nearly every issue.

  And while many prevention and intervention programs exist in Spokane
schools for topics like sex, drugs and alcohol abuse, none focuses on gangs.

  McIver, the 27-year-old Sureño gang member, said he hopes to stay out of
trouble so he can help raise his children, ages 2, 4, 6 and 8.

  "You can't do anything sitting in this jail for your family," he said.

  McIver's advice to teens considering joining a gang: "Join the football
team instead if you want to belong to a group."

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