Police crackdowns can have unintended consequences
Cracking down on a particular crime problem merely moves the problem to a different location. When prison authorities sought to break up prison gangs by moving gang members to different prisons, they merely spread prison gangs throughout the state, and for the feds, throughout the country. When the police concentrate their patrols in a specific neighborhood victimized by a rash of burglaries, the burglars merely move to other neighborhoods. And so it went with the LA’s crackdown on the Crips and the Bloods.
When The Gadfly was a gang investigator in Upland, California, he experienced firsthand the consequences of LA’s crackdown on the Crips and the Bloods.
THE CRAZY LIFE
Watch your step!
by Greg ‘The Gadfly’ Doyle
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
June 24, 2012
With the advent of rock cocaine in the early to mid-1980s came the rise and prominence of Black Street gangs in Los Angeles, California. Two groups came to dominance that were fierce competitors: The Crips and the Bloods. Simplified drug manufacturing and distribution made the drug itself very affordable, abundant, highly addictive and profitable. Styling themselves after Godfather-movie depictions of Italian mafia families and tactics, Black Street gangs rapidly moved in on illegal trafficking markets previously held by more loosely organized Hispanic street gangs, who dominated the marijuana and heroin black market. In response to turf encroachment by rivals, gang violence erupted in record fashion; first in gang-controlled neighborhoods and then on school campuses. Gang-related shootings and murders rose exponentially in the greater Los Angeles area and a police response was demanded by a terrified public.
Two important steps to combat the growing gang problem were taken, which directly impacted the Inland Empire (a two-county region adjacent to and east of Los Angeles County), where I worked my entire career in law enforcement and continue to live in retirement. The first step was taken by LAPD Chief Darryl Gates in a very public declaration of war against street gangs in the City of Los Angeles. A war he declared and a war he waged.
Gang sweeps were conducted in targeted gang neighborhoods with large numbers of police officers serving search warrants, seizing weapons and contraband, breaking down doors with armored cars, and arresting suspected gang members. And though the effort looked effective through the lenses of press cameras, in reality (over a few years) it caused harbored resentments toward police, as well as an eventual exodus. The lure of fast-money and the prestige Black gangs emulated through rapid accumulation of wealth and power appealed to many younger kids living in those LA neighborhoods. Parents who had lived in those affected gang areas packed up their kids and moved to the Inland Empire carrying with them the seeds of new street gang sets.
The pressure Chief Gates asserted by virtue of his heralded gang sweeps made drug distribution more difficult and risky for established gangs. Attrition and violent competition caused many gang members to move east and set up shop in areas where there were more affordable homes, fewer cops, and untapped markets to ply the drug trade. Never before seen Crips and Blood gang members moved in and set up residence in the Inland Empire cities of Riverside, Perris, Moreno Valley, Banning, San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Fontana, Ontario, Montclair, and Upland. And war quickly erupted; first with territorial-minded Hispanic gangs and then with the rise and backlash of racist White supremacy gangs.
One other unforeseen consequence of LAPD’s gang sweeps was an unprepared court-system swamped by the sudden onset and high volume of cases all of those sweep arrests had produced. Gang members had no special status among all of the other defendants waiting on the crowded tarmac of LA jurisprudence. Where gang member-defendants were concerned, non-violent drug dealers were released on their own recognizance awaiting further court proceedings. Most were back in business within a day or two. What the street sweeps had hoped to accomplish had been greatly negated by the lethargy of the courts and the existing law as it was practiced. Gang-related murders pushed previous statistical records through the roof. Drive-by shootings became a media fixation and an accepted fixture of the new gang culture.
In 1988, the California legislature took a second step against street gangs by creating the Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention (STEP) Act under Penal Code 186.22. In very specific terms the law defined what a gang was, what illegal activities gangs participated in, and what burden of proof was required to prosecute a defendant identified by the statute. The law was designed to specifically target street gangs as a particular class in need of special attention, much like the federal racketeering statutes (called RICO), for the purpose of adding time enhancements and penalties for committing gang-related crimes. In other words, if a gang member committed a crime enumerated under the STEP Act (and met the qualifications under STEP), a convicted gang member received additional jail or prison time by virtue of being a gang member.
In 1991, gang-related violence impacted my workplace significantly. Where once there had been three loosely associated and fairly inactive Hispanic gangs, Upland patrol officers suddenly encountered ten times the number of gangs, the majority of which were claiming LA Crips sets. The West End of San Bernardino County was awash in LA street gangs and the District Attorney’s office saw aggressive enforcement of the STEP Act as a means of combating the problem long term. Working with probation officers and parole agents, who networked with gang suppression units from neighboring policing agencies, intelligence was gathered, chronicled and shared for the purpose of gang prosecution. Within four years, STEP Act enforcement took much of the leadership of the local street gangs out of commission, and street violence dropped far below expectations. By the end of my assignment as a gang detective, I had gathered and maintained hundreds of files on known gang members and their associates. Thanks to a team effort with State and local agencies, gang suppression efforts helped the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation identify active members of an emerging White Supremacy prison gang and validate them.
Through all of my experiences as a gang investigator I gained insight into a very dark side of humanity, which dealt in fear, intimidation, and misery. That made me a better man of prayer and a more earnest God-seeker. I can still see the faces of many of the dead and wounded victims from my investigations, some of whom were suspects shortly before becoming victims themselves. What stands out in my mind was a particular disregard for the future by most of the gang members I encountered. There was only here and now; little else mattered. There was only the gang life. They called it the “crazy life,” as if that made it acceptable somehow. From my perspective, it was more than crazy—it was stupid and ignorant—like blindfolding a kid with a sweet-tooth and sending him or her into a minefield in search of a nonexistent piece of candy, with the only admonition of “Watch your step!”
“Watch your step!” is what the law is all about isn’t it? If one really cares about the future, then one is mindful to obey the law and avoid the consequences of disobedience. But the law itself does not stop anyone from breaking it, does it? No. Those who break the law are the ones for whom the warning is given and action is eventually taken. Those who invest themselves in lawlessness are generally only concerned with consequences if they get caught by the authorities. Otherwise lawlessness continues until one is caught, killed, or moved by circumstances or conscience to change.
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