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Home My WebLink About0351.094I' .j ~-, ~~ .. ' . • • , -:'-• • -.'" June 23, 19!i)4 'l'lIB HONORABLE CI1'~ COUNCIL ~al0 Alto, California lelpeR •• to xouth gaDa Agtiyity 8 '9 Oft i D. .l.r.1t..r. 'J'his 18 an inforlll.ational t'8port and no Council action is required. In recent .... ontha, the City of Palo Alto has been experiencing an Incru8ued level of YQut~ qang activity. This report is intended to update the Council on the response to that activity, provide intoraation as to enrorc~ment efforts undortaken by the. Police Depart_ont, and 8uRRarize community involvoment to date. Baokground Across the country, issues associated with the ever-growing youth gang problem have bGen rec.eiving more and more attention as the nUJll.b.era of .incidonts, many of" them violent, have created an atmosphere of tear and anxiaty for many communities. Over the last s&vBral years, couunities in proximit,y with Palo Alto, Most notably San JOS9, Oakland r and East Palo Alto, have exp9rienced a significant increaB~ of theBe problems. During the same period of tine in palo Alto, there h~ve been occasional incidents of quasi qanq activity such &8 graffiti; groups ot younq people regularly congreqatlnq at certain locations and in specific neighborhoods throughout the City; and some disturbances and fights, that have been A source of conCElrn for residents and the Police l)epartD1ent~ A need tor considerable police response and attention began at La Cu:atbre 'and across th-e street at the 'I·aco Bell about two years ago. Tho aotivities at these locations, toqether with reports of incidonts 11'1 a portion of the Addison neighborhood, have led to increased enforcement efforts. Police staff also began meeting with neiqhbors in the Addison area in an attempt to reduce the number of problems. Las.t summer two specific groups, the Addison (itA" Street.) Gang and the Ventura ("V" street) Gang, became much more active/ especially in behaviors and actions aimed at each other. As a result, speoific police officers ware initially assigned to the Ventura neiqhborhood, where a greater majority of the incidents 'Were occurrinq. CHR:l51:94 ., i I I I . \ Pag'e Two Up until recently, th ••• groups hod .i.icked 94n'1 activity .or. than th(l), hod actu.lly diopl"yed the behavior \lsuolly ••• ocioted with "ratal" '9Dnqs. lnoreaainqly, how.vitt'"1 their Actions ha.ve esc~lated to d level of violence that CbuseB tha l~bel ot "qan9s" to b. appropriately u •• d. In Hay, two vory 6eriou8 incident .• occurred. The t'irst incident invol.od four 90n9 ".abers vho battered an innocent cunn High School student On CUPUtl. The tollo'Wirtq ev&ning, there 'Was a report ot so •• "yoO"'1 people being ehasad by other young people 1n a car, one of who. was 'alleq.dly brandishing a qun. Later that .am, evenin9, lIbout .. 11( shots 'Wet:& tired at e party that inoluded members of the ·A~ StreQt Ganq_ Police officars were able to stop a car at "V" street Cang-IHtJl.b.ers who \fere returning to the party to ratallate. FortunatQly, no Qne ~4B injured In the latter two occurrences. A tot~l ot o19ht -al'reats Vere aadil relative to the three. incidents. Due to t-he tl'!!:calation of vio19nt evol1ts, the Police Depa.rtment fooed a. Gang Task fOl'ce, :,."'out'" oft iC9ru have been reassigned from their no~~l duties for the purpose of gathering intolliqonce and concontrlJlltinq their enforoement etforts on any and all potential qanq activity. The Ta.sk Force uses oft; proactive approach in an attePlpt -to cortail any additional violent activity, Information obtained about 9Bnq me_barB and, ftasociateB is centralized and distributed through tho Task Force. Th$Y work closely with adult and juvenile probation departments, the Paio Alto Unified School District (PAVSD) and the o1etrict Attornoy's office. Since it. foraation, the Tadk rorca haa .ada nu_erous arrests as a result of the pOlice Dapart"nt'e "Zero Toleranca" -attituc:1e towards gang activity. staff .nUclpates continuing th" operation of this Task force throughout the 8uzae~. CUrrently the Police DopartJl4J:nt has been able to absorb the workload "nd shift asai9'nJ3enta 'Y6oate.d by th'. reassignment of these officers ,thro,",9'h the use of overtitllG. Depending upon th.e laval ot actlvitYI t.ogether with tha R~cceS8 of the Task Force and other efforts to curb 418n9 aotivity" Btaft Jiay return to Council at a later tiRe ~ith a req~e8t tor additional rasourceB. PQlice Depart.ant 8t~ft are using all Available tools, includinq probation searchss and aUl1icipal code violations in enforcemant efforts.. An additional tool that staff believes 'Would be quite beneficial in protectin9 )'ounq people at risk is a ravision of the curle.w ordinance, aa described in CKR:350:94, 'Which is in this Council packet. Cl!R1351: 94 1_ "" • ! \ .~ \ .\" 7]' , .-, · . ,',"--,;' ... .. _. -.-,\~ '\ ' .. / Paqa Three COMe!te, .IpyolyM,nt Opnrating under the premi.e that the eli.in.tion of gang activity is the responsibility of p~r~nt$ and the entire cQn&un1ty, OB indicated above, different Agencie. and neighborhoods hAve bGco~. involved in r.!ollaborative attempts to lIddre88 the situation in PAlo Alto. In Oecember of lQst year, when taq9inq rGach~d 8 ~ak, representative II fro. the police Depart.ont, lH\"rron Park Association, PAUSD, Palo Alto YMCA, Fire Oepart~ent, Boy Scout.J Community Services Department and the Hayfiold community Clin!Q beqa.n lIIe.etinq for the purpose of de.vQ}opinq construct-lye leisure time activities for the young ps¢ple in the V.antura noighborhood. The Intoent was to provide thesa activities In order to Rtoer the young veople ~t risk away tro. potential q4nq ~8mberQhlp. Thie group has continued to Reot hi-weekly, and raprcsent~tives of the Ventura Ueiqhborhood Association have recently begun active participation. To date this qroup haD accoaplished the follovinql started a Boy Scout trooPI initiatod a ba8Ket~ll program, conduoted a soccer tournament, obtained ft tQlQvlGlo~ and VCR tor the center at the old Ventura school oite, and; arranged tor field trips. In addition, the group i6 in the process ot installing l!qhtinq for the basketball courts at that sit •• staff has held a numbar of meetings wit~ neighbor.hood. that have been especially affeoted by the qall9 activIty. Since .l~nuary of this year I three IDestinqs have been held with residents in tho Addison neighborhood; durinq the last two months, two maetlnqa hrwo been ha:ld with memberR ot the Ventura _I'udghborhood. In order to emphasize the importance ot parental involv(Jment~ staft has hosted a meetinq of "V" street Gang )!8tlOOrS and thoir parent's. The purposf:t of the meetinq 'Was to send a olear ~ossage about the Police Oepartment/s "Zero Tolerance" enforcGRent efforts and to reinfor~e the requirement for parental reBponaibi~ity. Representatives of the Juvenile Prob8tion ,Ganq Unit, PAUSD, Ho~tain View Police Department Gang Unit and the East Palo Alto Community Mediation Pr.ogram also attended the meetinq. Translators were available to interpret for those parents who dld not apeak English. A similar moeting with the "AM Street Gang Dembers and their parents is soheduled fOl" the end of this JIlonth. CODplu,ion '1'he police Department will continue to lIli>ke the elhlination of qanq aoti'vity in Palo Alto a high priority tln'ou'lh enforcoment efforts~ Additionally, through the facilitation of other agencies, CMR:351:94 Paqe 'Four neighborhoods and cOmlllWlity rasour<::eB, staff will also <:ontinue its eftort. to address the social roots of the gang activity in this couunity. ot.ffr"ll~ ,Ubmitted. ~\O-~_ L B JOHNSON Assistant Police Chief £~'!F~L~E!I~INd:G~ Manager CMR; 351; 94 , /J"> ,,/ / C' ,I / i~, " \:!fRIS DURKIN Polics Chief ii \. • • ;:: I I I' I