Posted on 03/02/2005 11:51:43 AM PST by JesseJane
Program will coordinate federal, state, local crime fighters in targeting gangs.
Fresno has been chosen as one of five communities nationwide to receive targeted help in reducing gang crime, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
The effort will enlist federal crime fighters, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in Washington.
As part of the relatively new Violent Crime Impact Team program, the Justice Department plans to target armed career criminals with a combination of state, federal and local forces.
"The initiative has shown how we can fight crime better, expand freedom, and open new opportunities in communities that had lost all hope," Gonzales said.
Speaking at a meeting of the overseers of California's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Gonzales identified Fresno as one of five cities that will be targeted with the new task forces. All cities named Monday, which include New Orleans, Hartford, Conn., Houston and Camden, N.J., have been plagued by high levels of gun-associated crime.
The program will employ agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; FBI, U.S. Marshals, federal prosecutors and Drug Enforcement Administration to aid Fresno's gang officers, said McGregor Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, which stretches through Central and Northern California from just south of Bakersfield to the Oregon border. Within that region, Fresno is the largest city.
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
"When we sentence a gang member to prison they go to Georgia or somewhere else in the country and that can serve to very effectively cut off the ties of the gang," Scott said. "
Would you mind using your ~ping~ lists to help spread the word?? :) Thanks ~ jj
~fyi ping~
Good news for Fresno law enforcement.
Further in the article: "He (Scott) said the impact will reach beyond Fresno County lines because gang members often go beyond county lines to commit crimes. "the more resources we can concentrate on Fresno, the more we can affect the whole Valley," He said.
In addition to place federal agents on Fresno's streets, the federal government intends to assist in paying some overtime costs for officers in the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium, an effort by local law enforcement agencies to team up and combat gang crime."
Then don't move here.
I live 2400 miles away and that going to stay that way...
I thought Houston was crime free?
Fresno?
With L.A. being the gang capital of the world, ya think the AG would want to come down on the hommies here...
last count, I think we have around 80K here in the City of Angels!
just like the "war on terrorism" if you want to fight gangs ya gotta take the war to their origin!
This is good news. Most of the gang activity in No. Calif, so. Oregon is out of Fresno/Mexican crime families. More on that here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1354262/posts
GANG LAND
"Fresno will become the second California city involved in the program, joining Los Angeles. "
Thanks JAS!! ..
Yeah well, I'd rather spend it on cops than welfare, or Viagra for Grampa.
The actual reason for the current crackdown (from my law enforcement source) is that the gangs have declared a "truce" in order to focus on killing more cops.. no joke.
They have declared a jihad on law enforcement.
"Next where does the fed gov get righteous constitutional juristiciton to do this?"
Well, the state and local government inviting them in may very well give them all the authority they need.
As for the Federal laws they'll prosecuet them under... Those are likely justified somehow through the commerce clause of the Constitution by activist Judges.
I lived in Fresno during the summer of 1988. What a terrifying experience for this Missouri boy! My apartment was burglarized, my mail (containing a $10 cash birthday gift) was stolen, and my car stereo stolen from a downtown parking lot during a weekday--all of this in 3 miserably hot months! When making the first police report, a very kind Latino police officer warned me that Fresno had the highest per-capita crime rate for cities its' size in the country. He also warned me to never drive south of a certain street (can't remember the name) after dark because gangs controlled the area. Mexican and Hmong gangs. It was like the wild wild west I tell ya'. Kissed the ground when I drove over the state line into Kansas City, MO.
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