BRIBING GANG MEMBERS TO BE NICE ISN'T WORKING

Bob Walsh put it this way on PACOVILLA Corrections blog: There was a pretty good fight, a riot actually, at the Richmond City Hall on September 14th. The interesting thing about the fracas is that city employees who were witnesses to the combatants fleeing to scene to an office within city hall are refusing to talk to the cops. That city office is designed to fight gang violence and encourage citizen involvement. Many of these people are employees of the Office of Neighborhood Safety. Members of rival gangs showed up more or less simultaneously to pick up the payoffs the city gives them, up to $1,000 per body, for being nice people. I have a news flash for you guys, it isn’t working. (It should be noted this is private money, not public.)

WITNESSES MUM ON GANG BRAWL AT RICHMOND CITY HALL
By Henry K. Lee

San Francisco Chronicle
October 23, 2011

The city of Richmond is all abuzz about a blood-spattered brawl at City Hall after which everyone - including the alleged gang members involved and a city office responsible for operating antiviolence programs - clammed up to police.

The incident happened Sept. 14 when shouting between rival gang factions at the Office of Neighborhood Safety devolved into a brawl that left at least one person bloodied, apparently from a broken nose. When it was all over, officers found blood, broken dishes and upended furniture in an office break room.

But that's all police could do. Investigators have yet to identify any suspects, or even any victims, police Capt. Mark Gagan said, because no one is talking.

Gagan said it was clear that his department needed to "bolster our relationship" with the Office of Neighborhood Safety.

The office's director, DeVone Boggan, downplayed the incident, saying what happened was a fistfight, not a melee.

"They did not kill one another," Boggan said. "These are guys who shoot each other with the intent to kill or try to kill one another or seriously injure one another. I feel like this is a sign of progress with our work."

Some of those involved were members of three rival gangs in Richmond who had shown up to pick up privately supplied monthly stipends of up to $1,000 for following a "life map." That involves attending counseling or conflict-resolution sessions, undergoing mental-health therapy and paying things like parking tickets and child support, Boggan said.

He said the rival gang members had shown up at the same time unexpectedly.

Boggan denied that his office was stonewalling, saying, "That's the first time I've heard that term associated with me." He said he has liaisons and contacts with the Police Department, the Contra Costa County district attorney's office, probation and parole officers, the same sources who tip him off when any of the 40 young men who are paid as part of "Operation Peacemaker Fellowship" get into trouble.

If that happens, they've broken the contract they signed with his office, Boggan said. And they won't get paid with funds that come from private sources, he said, adding no city funds are involved.

But Councilman Corky Booze, a longtime critic of the city office, said Boggan's statements didn't wash. As director, Boggan should know when people are showing up to collect checks and recognize the "volatility of these folks," Booze said. And "why would you even bring those people to City Hall like that?"