New York Community Unites To Address Youth Gang Issues
By Gene Allen, Weed and Seed Coordinator
 Utica Police Department anti-gang initiatives bear fruit. |
Like many communities, Utica, NY, faces an emerging gang problem, with law enforcement, the school system, and other organizations each fighting gangs on their own separate turf. As happens with many communities, it took tragedy to bring Utica's disparate agencies and organizations together to develop a long-term plan to stop gang violence.
On December 8, 2006, 15-year-old Sang Vu, a Thomas R. Proctor Senior High School student, was severely beaten in what police described as a "beat-in," a gang initiation ritual. He died 24 hours later. The following week, Utica Fifth District Councilman Bill Phillips convened a meeting of the Utica Board of Education and Common Council, largely in response to Vu's death. The meeting ended with city and school district officials pledging to work together to combat youth gangs and violence. At a second combined meeting in January 2007, the initiative quickly acquired a name: the Youth Concerns Task Force.
During that first meeting, attendees realized that current efforts to reduce gang violence simply were not adequate. Board member D. Victor Pellegrino said Vu's death indicated that city agencies were not doing enough to prevent the city's youth from forming gangs. "You can't have these four entities—the city, the school district, the District Attorney's Office, the police—each doing their own thing, because that didn't stop a 15-year-old from being killed," he said.
This was not the city's first gang-related incident; other incidents involved shootings. With each outbreak of gang violence, the community responded with understandable anger and calls to action. With each occurrence, these responses were well-intentioned, but for one reason or another they eventually lost momentum.
The Vu incident was different, however—it was the first act of serious violence that was the direct result of gang activity. Likewise, this new initiative is different. For the first time, an anti-gang initiative represented a convergence of the main players who have a stake in making youth and the end of youth violence a community priority, and because the players are in positions of leadership, they can ensure that key issues are addressed. Sitting at the same table with the School Board and Common Council members are department heads from the city, county, and state as well as residents, community leaders, representatives of nonprofit organizations, and law enforcement officials, including probation and parole officers.
Utica Board of Education member Margaret Buckley noted that some city agencies can be territorial and prefer to work on their own. That's not going to solve the problem, she said. "We're all going to have to get along—like it or not," Buckley added.
As a result of the two meetings, the Youth Concerns Task Force is briskly moving forward by assigning tasks and defining action steps. One assignment for the next meeting is to inventory programs and services that are available in the community so the task force can determine what is being done and how to allocate resources more effectively.
Initial assessments suggest that many agencies in the area already provide informational and prevention programs and counseling services for families and youth. Many of these providers do not recognize that they are already involved in a form of gang intervention. Identifying these services is valuable because it reassures task force members that they do not have to reinvent the wheel in their fight against gang violence—they just need to connect the spokes.
The city's law enforcement officials applaud this task force and are eager to participate. Anti-gang initiatives have been a central part of law enforcement's strategy for at least 3 years. In 2005, CCDO invited the Utica Weed and Seed site to apply for a one-time award of up to $80,000 in grant funds to support the Weed and Seed special emphasis anti-gang crime strategy. Using these funds in combination with other funding sources, Utica developed an initiative to provide approximately 500 hours of extra patrols and surveillance specifically targeted for areas of suspected organized narcotic activity within the Weed and Seed site, including surveillance of known or suspected gang leaders. These efforts have had their successes—in 2005, the effort effectively shut down Brick Money, one of Utica's most notorious gangs.
Law enforcement can also provide a model of effective communication among the partners. Law enforcement in the Utica area is already working cooperatively through Weed and Seed and Project Impact, according to Rob Palmieri, Deputy Public Safety Commissioner. Project Impact is a New York State antidrug and antiviolence initiative used for drug enforcement operations that includes monitoring gangs across jurisdictional boundaries. The District Attorney's Office, Sheriff's Department, State Police, Department of Corrections, New Hartford Town Police, and Utica Police Department have established a system for gathering and sharing data on known and suspected gang members.
"Criminals don't have boundaries," said Palmieri. "Neither should we. What happens in Utica, New Hartford, and the county affects us all." Palmieri has arranged for Marilyn Skermont, Superintendent of Schools, to attend the next Project Impact meeting. "Law enforcement has been working together," said Palmieri. "Now it is time to start collaborating more with the community, and the schools are a big part of that."
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For more information, contact:
Gene A. Allen
Communications Manager/Weed and Seed Coordinator
