Seeking answers on gang activity

May 2, 2007

USC-Benedict study will analyze causes of gang violence - and suggest solutions

By ISHMAEL TATE - itate@thestate.com

A joint study by USC and Benedict College will try to pin-point where gang activity is occurring in Richland County, who's involved, what resources are available to help and which approach is best suited to stem the rising tide of violence.

The assessment, which will begin this month, will take six to nine months. The city of Columbia has earmarked $118,000 for the project, said Mayor Bob Coble. The Columbia City Council will vote to appropriate the money at tonight's meeting.

Researchers say the study is important because it gets people on the same page about the nature and extent of the problem, which is necessary to develop a plan of action.

"You have to have something to say, ´Look, we've examined the problem. These are our resources. We need this,'" said University of South Carolina researcher and former Los Angeles police officer Jeff Rojek.

Models that would work in Richland County might already exist, but "this will keep (the city) from chasing down a model that isn't feasible," said Rojek, an assistant professor in USC's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

"The last thing you want is that kind of knee-jerk reaction to problems because it leads to bad public policy" and wasted money, Rojek said.

Even without the assessment, it's clear that Richland County is past the "wannabe" stage in which gang activity is viewed as a series of isolated events, Rojek said.

There have been three shooting deaths that police said were gang-related this year:

• Brian Wright, 15, was shot and killed Feb. 19 outside a Two Notch Road Waffle House.

• Willie T. Fuller, 26, was killed, and his brother Kentril Fuller, 22, was shot March 3 in the Hollywood Hills subdivision.

• Victor Bonner, 18, was shot to death as he stood in the front yard of his Newcastle subdivision home March 6.

There are two leading strategies for fighting gang violence.

One is the Boston model, or Operation Cease Fire, which has worked in other cities.

In 1996, Boston police, working with the federal government, universities and local clergy, offered gangs a deal: Stop the drugs and violence or else.

Gangs were put on notice that severe consequences would follow gang activity, but that help - job training, mediation and counseling - was available for those who wanted out.

The rate of violence dropped sharply.

In Operation Cease Fire's second year, there was a 71 percent decrease in homicides by people 24 and under and a 70 percent reduction in gun assaults (for all ages), according to a federal report.

The second approach is the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Comprehensive Gang Model. It is based on providing community services that preach gang prevention and give gang members a path out of the gang lifestyle.

The city has helped provide researcher and former family court judge Abigail Rogers with a list of people and agencies who have opinions about the problem.

"We're in the community, and if they can't come to the Center of Excellence, then we'll go to them," said Rogers, who works in Benedict College's Center for Excellence.

It's not enough for people to say there's a gang problem. "We want to know where it is, what you're seeing to make you think there is a gang problem," she said.

Rogers, a single parent of a 12-year-old girl, is from Columbia.

Researchers will only examine gang activity in Richland County, but could discover that future analyses should include Lexington County, Rojek said.

Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts said gangs are a growing concern, but that gang-related violence in the county was sporadic.

Coble said that once assessment results are in, a Gang and Youth Prevention Council, which includes him, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, city council member Tameika Isaac Devine and Rep. Leon Howard, will begin working to formulate a comprehensive response plan.

Reach Tate at (803) 771-8549.

JEFF ROJEK

USC assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice

Jeff Rojek earned a doctorate from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2005. He is a former police officer and has conducted many police research and evaluation projects. His research interests are policing, organizational behavior, gangs, organized crime and terrorism.

ABIGAIL ROGERS

Benedict College professor of criminal justice

Abigail Rogers is a former family court judge. Her research interests include gangs, criminal justice and courts. She is a researcher at Benedict's Center for Excellence and a graduate student in USC's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED

Gang study will focus on these seven questions:

1. Where in Columbia are gangs most active?

2. Who is in gangs?

3. What are the characteristics of gang activity?

4. What are the perceptions of gang activity?

5. What are the capabilities of the community?

6. Which programs work, which don't?

7. Which anti-gang model is appropriate for Columbia?

Source: The State Newspaper

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