RSSValley's anti-gang efforts may get federal funding boost
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YAKIMA, Wash. — A project to keep Yakima County youth out of gangs and help active gang members leave the street took a key step forward Wednesday.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. included $500,000 in a bill to support a multi-pronged anti-gang proposal for Yakima. The bill was awaiting consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee after passing through a subcommittee.
Murray's spokesman and local officials said they're cautiously optimistic the funding will survive in the budget to be signed by President Obama this fall.
"It was a big victory to get it in, and she's going to keep fighting for it," said Murray spokesman Eli Zupnick.
The congressional funding makes up two-thirds of the amount calculated to maintain the Yakima County Gang Initiative for a year. Other requests are pending with the Gates Foundation and the Department of Justice, said Yakima County Commissioner Kevin Bouchey.
Bouchey has been part of a group of city and county offficals working since January with Educational Service District 105 and the Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic, among others, to craft an attack on the county's gang problem.
Bouchey said the proposed project would focus on social services and schools rather than direct police enforcement.
"We can't arrest our way out of this. We've got to be looking at different avenues" -- from redirecting active gang members to persuading students to stay away from gangs, Bouchey said.
A background paper prepared by the county for potential funders estimates that more than 2,500 gang members may be active here, with roughly half in Yakima and the rest in the county's other cities and rural areas.
According to the county's calculations, the county has 15 percent of the state's gang members but less than 5 percent of the overall population.
The project's major goals would be to reduce the number of gang-involved youth on probation from 60 percent to 20 percent and increase on-time graduation in select school districts from 68 percent to 73 percent.
Bouchey said the project is meant to complement existing efforts in commun-ities across the county to fight gang violence. Half of the county's 18 homicides last year had gang ties, prompting efforts in Sunnyside and elsewhere to mobilize the community.
The funding requests are only part of the solution, Bouchey said.
"Dollars are good, but it's going to take a serious communitywide effort to get rid of the gang problem," Bouchey said.
The actual scope of the program depends on the final funding amount.
If the entire $850,00 comes together, as many as 3,000 students could take an anti-gang curriculum in schools across the county. Several hundred gang members and their families could take part in counseling, vocational education and other programs after being picked up by police or being identified through other channels, according to the proposal.
In a news release announcing the subcom-mittee's approval of Murray's request, Sheriff Ken Irwin said that local voters had stepped forward to help law enforcement when they approved a dedicated sales tax to hire police officers and prosecutors.
"Unfortunately, given the rapid increase in gang-related crime and violence, we need more assistance in the areas of gang prevention, intervention and suppression," Irwin said. "We believe we need state and federal assistance in meeting this incredible challenge to our community."
This sounds like a waste of federal dollars (which come from three sources: 1)our taxes 2)China 3)Obama's printer). All this program will do is buy new Harley's for some administrators at ESD105 and the Farmworkers clinic.
The solution is to arrest and punish criminals. This method has worked for thousands of years. Have Kevin Bouchey and a mom in running shoes unlocked the secret to the universe? Sheriff Joe in Phoenix must have a right or left hand guy that can move up here for a lot less money.
Lobo, I'm with you on this one. All the Feds do is throw money at a problem - look at the War on Drugs and the results of that $trillion program as an example. The money helps, but we have to be able to prosecute these hoodlums as well.
If people truly knew how gang members think, there is very little law enforcement alone can do to take them out of gangs - the gang members have to WANT to get away from it before anything significant can happen.
Perhaps a combination of better deterrents through stricter and tougher laws and enforcement, the school-thing, neighborhood watches, AND getting the state to ease up on the disastrous juvenile work laws, (or should I say ANTI-work laws?) which would allow kids to work in their spare time instead of making trouble, would do some good.
Last time I checked Phoenix has one of the highest homicide rates in the United States, 212 homicides in 2007, 167 in 2008.. That sheriff just punishes the criminals in a different way, he isn't reducing crime that much..
A way to prevent gangs is start early and work with the families.. And that is what this bill will do. If you just arrest and punish criminals, there will always be someone to take the place of him... PREVENTION AT A YOUNG AGE IS THE BEST WAY TO STOP GANGS.
Grafittibrad is correct- prevention is the answer, and if this is going to pay for that, then it will be successful.
As for some other people in Yakima, I'm not sure you'd be happy with anything that didn't involve the equivalent of a public lynching.
We have to cut off the recruitment of our youth into gangs. They recruit at 12, 13 and 14 years old. So that means having educational after school progams that run to 5pm and summer programs that keep kids interested an engaged from 8am to 5pm. Also having parents involved would help immensely. If we keep these kids off the streets where their odds of running into gangs is greater we will have a good impact in the community. Idle hands are the devils playground.
Report Violation"The solution is to arrest and punish criminals. This method has worked for thousands of years."
If it has worked for thousands of years then why do we continue to have these increasing problems? The U.S. has 5% of the worlds population yet it has a quarter of the worlds incarcerated population. 1 for every 100 adult.
“$500,000.00 makes up two thirds of the calculated amount needed to maintain the Yakima County Gang initiative” for ONE YEAR??? Someone please explain to me how and what we are spending $750,000.00 a year on!
“We can’t arrest our way out of this”. Does someone really believe that we can talk our way out of it?
Perhaps we can send each of the 2,500 gang members a check for $300.00 with the stipulation that they may not terrorize, shoot or rob anyone for the year or they will lose their “stimulus” check for the next year.
Our biggest problem is that these gangs are so appealing to kids. They accept anyone regardless of how you look or dress. They do not care what your Daddy’s last name is or how many “0’s” are at the end of his salary and they protect each other sometimes 'til their dying breaths. They are fulfilling something in our youth that we are not. Who would not want this?
Spending $750,000.00 a year to educate kids on the evils of gang life is not going to solve this problem. Start at home by raising your own children to be good people and accepting of others who are not like them. Don’t let the gangs be more appealing and accepting than you are. Do not bring another child into the world if you do not have the time or the energy for the ones you have. Bored kids will find ways to entertain themselves and it may not always be productive. Teach your kids not to be judgmental by practicing it yourself. We all need to be more tolerant of each other. Do not give your child everything they want. Our youth truly believe they are entitled to anything they want and they want it with no effort on their part. Keep your kids busy and involved in activities. If they are busy they will either be productive, too tired to get into trouble or not have the time to get into trouble. Lastly, they need to know that there will always be consequences for their actions. If you do the crime, you do the time! If your kid gets in trouble at school, do not rush to their side to rescue them out of their punishment. If your kid gets caught shoplifting, do not hire a lawyer, let them figure out how they are going to pay restitution and take the shoplifting classes then come up with your own meaningful, lasting impression punishment like graffiti or garbage cleanup for the business they ripped off. Your punishment will be more meaningful than the court ordered punishment. Kids have to know that there are consequences for their choices and they are accountable for their actions.
For now, we do have to “Arrest our way out of this” because we have a serious problem with a 2,500 people who have found that there are no consequences for their actions. This problem will continue to grow if we do not, as a society, quit allowing our youth to raise themselves, quit holding our hands out for what we believe someone else owes us, and quit judging others by their appearance and beliefs. It would not kill us to be half as accepting as the gangbangers!
Gang recruit at a much younger age, try 7, 8 and 9.. My sister teaches at a East Yakima school (1st grade) and already has students making references to the Norteno gang and won't use the color blue or as they call it "scrap color" a diss towards the rival Sureno gang.
They are learing this behavior from older brothers, sisters, cousins and sometimes even parents.. If at all possible we need to get in the homes of these problem families and show them there is more to life than gangs.
And if you don't in the year 2020, those grade school kids will be the next generation of Yakima gangsters.
Dept of Justice reports that from 1998 to 2003 gang members committed about 6% of violent crime, according to the victims
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
8.6 9.6 8.3 9.8 7.2 5.7 5.9
2000 2001 2002 2003
6.1 4.8 5.8 5.8
Can someone tell us how much gang activity has growen in the same time frame in Yakima?
If it has growen at the same as the national level, I think we are just burning money for no reason!!
I'm sure these after school programs have the gang members shaking in their boots.
Report ViolationHave you hugged a gang banger today?
Report ViolationThey don't need a hug. They need more consequences and less judges turning them back out onto the street for us to deal with. Might be why you read about so many people taking the law into their own hands and then they end up going to jail.
Report ViolationMyspace needs to be regulated as well. Now that kids from 7-18 know how to get on it and see "self-glorified" gang members.
Gang Myspace from Yakima
http://www.myspace.com/santoxiv
http://www.myspace.com/OSO50914
http://www.myspace.com/678joker
My space doesn't need to be regulated. WE, as parents need to regulate what OUR kids have access to, teach them what's right and wrong, cross our fingers and hope they make the best decisions, then make sure they stand behind their decisions or live with the consequences of their actions.
Regulation, when not handled without bias or personal belief, becomes censorship. Who decides what is morally and ethically acceptable? Who decides which books to burn?
I said parents need to be involved. But I think MySpace shouldn't glorify illegal behavior either. I think we could all agree on that.
Report Violationarresting and punishment is a critical piece of the puzzle....but it's only treating the symptom, not addressing the cause. Its a mess of reasons and issues that contribute to gang violence/activity. We should be investing just as much in prevention/diversion as punishment.
Report ViolationGangs are for-profit organizations. These organizations will not survive without profits. Take away their profits and they will not be able to survive.
These gangs will not be glorified by our kids if the gang members are broke, homeless, and in the welfare line.
I wrote an open letter to Doc Hastings last week on how we could eliminate gangs. You can view that here:
http://myyakima.com/component/content/article/36-politicsfinance/98-an-open-letter-to-doc-hastings-ending-gangs.html
Isn't that what the fired police officer Jeff Brownfield
complained about was accounting issues at Police Athletic
League? Would this money be going to them? And now one
of our most precious assets in our community, Capt. Light
doesn't even show up on PAL's website last time I checked.
Fortunately I has saved his picture from a week ago and
am planning on painting a portrait of him. I also plan
on doing political satire charicatures of Officers Shelly
Upton, Linda Watts, Jeff Schneider and Jamie Gonzales of
PAL. That, of course will be somewhat different than a portrait, but I suppose people who work with children will have a sense of humor.
I certainly hope cartoons don't fall in the category of a
public lynching, everbody else does it, why not Yakima?
Please, everybody, watch carefully the two new lawsuits filed by police people,
they must be handled by a brave judge, because in Yakima
to be fair you must also be very, very brave.
BTW
I really, really want to stay on top of these new lawsuitsand I can't even get ahold of the new Union rep. From the sounds
of the judges opinion on throwing out Jeff Brownsfields
whistle blowing suit about the money at PAL , something
ridiculouse about falling on his head 10 years ago I.m
worried this thing may slip by without anybody getting a
gander at the judge. An artist can legally be in a court
room when a camera can't. If something shister goes down
it is conveyed through the artist to the sketch.
The new Union rep Mike Costello I think runs the narco unit
and I think he's really busy with that. I don't know much about this stuff, but I do know that I want to be in that
courtroom looking that judge full in the face and drawing
it. If the Herald won't print it than I'll put it on a web
site. I don't want to see this slipping through.
This is some bad stuff coming down on the very people who
are out there risking their lives for us and nine lawsuits
in a year is so bad that he should have given a prime time
speech to the community about why he is unable to lead his
men and why they have lost faith in him. Struggling to
keep their morale up, wading threw the mire of the sludge
of poor, inadequate leadership they continue to faithfully
protct us. Do we deserve it?
And the articles about
the cops not wanting to take drug test is crap. The drug
testers, in my opinion, are more than likely people in
drug treatment or just out. They have their own little
self sustaining welfare community, or hasn't anybody noticed
the tremendous creep of drug housing? The Herald needs to
absolutely stop printing that the officers won't do testing.
If I see the lousy form of journalism again I'm gonna barf
on the page.
WIMP..MUST stand for "without intelligence mosty psycotic"
You apprently don't know all there is to know about the federal case that was dimsissed.
cpos not wanting to take druig test is not crap/ why won't they take them?
"Bad stuff on the people that protect us"
How about these cops just dong the job they were hired to do instead whining because they got a transfer....geezz what did they sign up for.
This is one of the best paid jobs in all Yakima and all I read is they got transferred, maybe they weren't doing such a hot job...maybe they were but they are still getting a paycheck.
That is except the lunatic the judge dismissed the case one.
Why cant people figure all this out. Think about it they break the law coming over here we do nothing about it. So why would the care about any other law. We need to quit treating criminals with kid gloves. Do what they do in the middle east to criminals. If you start taking off body parts people will listen and if not then you deserve it. Too many bleeding hearts wanting to help them. Corporal punishment is the only way.
Report ViolationEloy
That would mean a policean's future is competely in the
hands of someone ( you?) who hates police. In Yakima some
drug users have been busted multiple times and it doesn't
show on their records. That person could be the one who
is doing the drug testing. What normal, honest, heroic
officer would submit to that? Are you just a far out
left-wing loon that thinks the world is just really a safe
place and all people are basically good?
I think it's pretty obvious that the Chief doesn't
really know what he is doing. It's almost as if from
day one that somebody gave him a list of people to
harrass and, like an automated robot with hands straight
out in front sauntered of to complete his pitiful mission.
He doesn't even look very full of life, certainly not
the type to have so much zeal that he makes enemies
and friends practically instantly. And the harrassment
of that lady cop, I think the name is Stacey Andrews,
to me that's sounds like more than sexual harrassment.
More like severe physchological harrassment also. I mean
if I had that fat, slobby man showing
up every where I went, I'd want to blast off the planet.
What in God's name does he think he's gonna do with that
huge piece of flab in an amorous situation? Is Viagra
coming in triple strength now-a-days? Ugh. How would you
like him following you and still have to carry out
you duties as a female police person. It seems like
you would always have your hand on your pistol because
you would always be on high alert.
And why so far do most of the investigators appear to
be female. Could it have something to do with a treatment
center being female operated? Could it be a connection
to an organized group of women who delight in nothing
more than harrassing our most courageous men? Courage
being something they don't comprehend. And where is Patty
Murphy when Officer Brownfield blows the whistle on
the money problems at PAL? She being so concerned for
the kids in our city.
I think it's pretty obvious that the Chief doesn't
really know what he is doing. It's almost as if from
day one that somebody gave him a list of people to
harrass and, like an automated robot with hands straight
out in front sauntered of to complete his pitiful mission.
He doesn't even look very full of life, certainly not
the type to have so much zeal that he makes enemies
and friends practically instantly. And the harrassment
of that lady cop, I think the name is Stacey Andrews,
to me that's sounds like more than sexual harrassment.
More like severe physchological harrassment also. I mean
if I had that fat, slobby man showing
up every where I went, I'd want to blast off the planet.
What in God's name does he think he's gonna do with that
huge piece of flab in an amorous situation? Is Viagra
coming in triple strength now-a-days? Ugh. How would you
like him following you and still have to carry out
you duties as a female police person. It seems like
you would always have your hand on your pistol because
you would always be on high alert.
And why so far do most of the investigators appear to
be female. Could it have something to do with a treatment
center being female operated? Could it be a connection
to an organized group of women who delight in nothing
more than harrassing our most courageous men? Courage
being something they don't comprehend. And where is Patty
Murphy when Officer Brownfield blows the whistle on
the money problems at PAL? She being so concerned for
the kids in our city.
And now what deeply concerns me is the new Patrol Associations union rep, Mike Costello. Mike has been at the
head of Yakima's drug fighting for several years and I'm sure
he knows that there are many hard core drug users in Yakima
who have been busted several times and have a clean record.
There most certainly is a possibility that they could be the drug tester. Will Costello fight for our police men and women
against drug testing or will he cave to the pressure? Or
is he to busy fighting the enormous drug problem itself?
As for me wanting to sketch at the courtroom and any other
place where it is legal to convey to the people of Yakima
exactly what is happening here, how can I find out anything when Mike is never in and won't call me back? Looking
ahead we also must turn our eyes and ears to the judges,
for how can it be that someone who has been busted several
times can have a "clean record"? And why are we not demanding that Granato himself do drug testing? In my
opinion any man that looks like him and still envisions
himself to be some sort of "Don Juan", according to reports, must either be physchotic or using some kind ED
drug in such quantities that it would be considered to be
drug abuse.
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