By Eddie Jimenez and Louis Galvan
The Fresno Bee
FRESNO, Calif. — Sheriff Margaret Mims said law enforcement officials and city leaders were making a statement to gang members Wednesday by announcing the formation of a gang-suppression team to focus on eastern Fresno County communities.
“The message is, we’re not going to put up with your activity,” Mims said. “We’re going to find you and arrest you and hold you accountable.” Additional officers will be added to the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium -- MAGEC -- which has been arresting and prosecuting gang members for 10 years.
The announcement in Selma was one of two efforts addressing county gang problems. Earlier Wednesday, a gang prevention summit in Fresno drew more than 400 participants to discuss gang prevention, intervention, suppression, rehabilitation and economic development.
In Selma, the focus was on enforcement. Gangs “are a countywide problem, and there are no safe harbors,” District Attorney Elizabeth Egan said in the Selma City Council chambers. Officials estimate there are 24,000 gang members in Fresno County.
The Sheriff’s Department and the towns of Sanger, Reedley, Parlier, Orange Cove, Kingsburg, Fowler and Selma will fund additional MAGEC officers. The hope is to increase law enforcement presence, which has deterred gang activity, said Reedley Police Chief Doug Johnson.
“When those MAGEC cars come in, those gang members hide,” he said.
MAGEC’s personnel will total about 45, with the additional officers expected to be deployed by mid-December.
Although law enforcement officers say MAGEC has been effective in curtailing gang activity in some areas, it has increased in rural areas.
County Supervisor Judy Case said the extra efforts are needed “to address a problem that is a blight in all our communities.”
At the second annual U.S. Attorney’s Gang Prevention Summit in Fresno earlier Wednesday, participants from law enforcement, community service groups, faith-based organizations and other agencies from throughout the state gathered to explore alternative strategies for combating gangs.
“The gang problem is no secret,” said McGregor Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California. “The Central Valley has one of the worst gang problems in the United States.”
Gang problems are one of the top issues for Californians, said Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer, whose department just finished the first year of its campaign to eliminate the Bulldog gang in the city.
But just arresting and locking up gang members is not the answer, officials said.
Recalling his years as a Shasta County prosecutor, Scott talked about how he questioned whether there was a better way of dealing with the problem.
A day after successfully prosecuting a gang-involved killing, Scott said, he thought long and hard about the case.
“One teenager was dead and another teenager was sent to prison for life,” he said. “What did we accomplish?”
Enforcement is not the only answer, Fresno Mayor Alan Autry said.
“We are losing the battle against gang activity by using the hammer only,” Autry said. “You have to give them hope, too.”
And one way of providing hope, he said, can be found in the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Initiative, an intervention and prevention program that targets gang members and former gang members who are trying to turn their lives around.
The program offers former gang members help in obtaining counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, job training, anger management classes, tattoo removals and other related services.
Copyright 2007 Fresno Bee