War on Westside Gangs

War on Westside Gangs
By Mike Rhodes

Today, Fresno mayor Alan Autry and police chief Jerry Dyer announced plans crack down on and eliminate westside gangs. The campaign will begin immediately using four primary elements:

1. Target Specific enforcement
2. The aggressive use of technology
3. Intervention and prevention
4. Community Involvement

Fresno City Council member Jerry Duncan, stressing the urgency of this effort compared the campaign to the war on terror. Duncan, speaking about gang members, said “make no mistake about it, they are terrorists and they are as much of terrorists as those people in Iraq that are blowing up innocent people.” Mayor Autry said “the connection with the war on terror and the war against gangs at home is not a spin, it is a very real connection.”

Police Chief Dyer outlined the strategy for defeating gangs on the westside. He said “effective today the police department will deploy a new tactical unit specifically designed to eliminate West Fresno gang activity. The West Fresno gang team, will operate similar to the Bulldog Tactical Team conducting citywide high-visibility targeted enforcement of West Fresno gang members with an emphasis in Southwest Fresno where violent gang crime has occurred with regularity.”

Dyer singled out three gangs for immediate elimination - The Dogpound, Villa Posse, and Strother Boys. A map detailing gang territory on the westside was available at the press conference held today and is reproduced below. Dyer said that the three gangs targeted for elimination “comprise 250 of the most violent and dangerous criminals in Fresno involving themselves in crimes such as murder, business and residential robberies, as well as frequent drive by shootings. Once membership in these three gangs diminishes significantly other gangs will be targeted for elimination.”

The Fresno Police Department intends to expand its video policing efforts in this war against West Fresno gangs. Dyer said they have “the capability to immediately deploy up to six portable cameras into locations to allow for active monitoring of gang members in neighborhoods who may be involved in criminal activity.” These cameras are in addition to the permanent video surveillance cameras that have been introduced into the community over the last two years. Dyer said that the portable cameras may or may not have signs to notify residents that they are being monitored.

Global Positioning System (GPS) devices will also be used to fight gangs. Dyer said that “currently 20 parolee gang members are on active GPS monitoring and within the next few weeks, 20 juvenile gang members on probation will be actively monitored by GPS. These GPS monitors allow for real time, around the clock monitoring and tracking of offenders.”

A third component of the technology used to fight gangs will be geo-forensic crime data. Dyer described this technology by saying a “crime analyst assigned to the department’s crime view unit will identify gang-involved crimes and trends, and provide custom crime mapping. These maps can be overlaid to include offender residence maps to provide instant analysis of likely suspects including parolees, probationers and sex offenders allowing command staff to target our anti-gang efforts and strategically direct resources.”

Dyer said “while enforcement will play a major role in the elimination of gangs in southwest Fresno, we fully understand that the long term solution is offering those who choose a way out of the gang lifestyle an opportunity to do so.” He said his department and volunteers would aggressively recruit African-American gang members to join the mayors gang prevention initiative “by going door to door offering our services.”

The fourth element of the campaign will be community involvement. Dyer said they are working with community leaders and faith based groups in West Fresno and they will “establish a gun buy back program which will be launched next month.” Dyer said they will set up a gang watch hotline and hold “farewell to gangs” celebrations.

In addition to Dyer several elected officials spoke at the press conference, including mayor Alan Autry, District Attorney Elizabeth Egan, & city council members Cynthia Sterling, Henry T Perea, and Jerry Duncan. All were supportive of the plan.

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