Federal stimulus dollars mostly go toward bricks and mortar, but some of those dollars also are going toward building up communities in other ways, such as combating violence that threatens to destroy neighborhoods and leave the public cowering in their homes. Judging from the number of recent killings and amount of related violence attributed to local gangs what better way to spend the money than establish an anti-gang unit.
That’s exactly what Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris is doing with a $206,000 stimulus grant.
These units have proven effective in other jurisdictions, such as Oklahoma City, which has a similar problem with gang proliferation and violence.
The unit in and of itself will not cure every issue related to gang prosecutions, but it boosts existing efforts and creates new tools, including an all-important database on gang membership. The unit will include three full-time prosecutors and a full-time investigator to gather information about individual gang members, and increase communication with the Tulsa Police Department, which is on the front lines of this fight.
Historically, there’s an ebb and flow to gang activity. Unfortunately, Tulsans are seeing the flow--an escalation of gang violence that’s resulted in several broad-daylight killings, other crime and brawls in public high schools.
The ebb in gang violence usually occurs when prosecutors are able to put offending gang members--especially ring leaders--behind bars. Cut off the head of the snake and violence dissipates, at least for a while.
This new unit also will deal with one of the biggest problems law enforcement has in combating gang violence--getting witnesses to come forward with information or testify in court, and live to tell about it.
Often witnesses or those with valuable information are gang members themselves who fear retribution. The same is true for neighbors and innocent bystanders who fear putting their lives or those of their families at risk.
At last count, Tulsa is home to about 375 gang factions, known as “sets.” Each set, generally, is an offshoot of a large group such as the Crips or Bloods. Sets, typically, base their identities on the geographical area where their members live.
Among these sets, loyalties shift and rifts develop.
The gangs represent one of the greatest threats to public safety. Harris said prosecutors will take a more aggressive track during trials and push for longer prison sentences.
They’ll need a lot of luck cutting the head off the snake.
