Thread: AZ: Yuma gang task force asking residents to help

The gang problem is popular in the news nowadays!
Comments are being left after this article too.

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http://www.yumasun.com/onset?id=32417&t ... ticle.html

Yuma gang task force asking residents to help
BY NICOLE E. SQUIBBS, SUN STAFF WRITER
March 6, 2007 - 12:13AM

With seven officers in the city's gang unit - five Yuma Police Department officers and two Border Patrol agents - active gang members far outnumber the law enforcement officers dedicated to combat them.

And until recently, they "used to be a two-man task force," Officer Mike Ewald of the YPD Gang Unit said.

At a recent Community Justice Boards Training Session at Yuma Police Department, members of the department presented information on gangs in the city of Yuma and efforts and strategies being used against them.

Over the past five years, YPD added two officers and the Border Patrol agents.

Because of the large number of gang members in Yuma, officers count on residents to report gang activity in their neighborhoods, so police can take a proactive strategy by conducting gang intelligence and targeted patrols.

Police consider gangs to be organized crime syndicates, because they are all about making money, be it by selling weapons, drugs or cars, according to Ewald.

While it is not illegal to be a gang member, it is illegal to be a gang member who commits crimes.

Ewald said YPD will respond to calls from residents concerned about gang members in their neighborhoods, regardless if a crime is being committed at the time of the call.

He said, "The squeaky wheel gets the oil." He told concerned citizens the more they call police about gangs "hanging out" on their streets, the more attention they will receive from police. He said being aware and calling the police are the two ways residents can effectively combat the growing gang problem in Yuma.

Ewald advised the neighbors on South 17th Avenue in Hacienda Estates, which had two daytime suspected gang shootings in less than a week, to call YPD daily to voice their concerns about East Side gang members who are living in a home there and warring with Okie Town gang members.

Ewald said officers can also drive through neighborhoods with suspected gang activity more frequently to try to spot crimes.

"They are doing the same shootings, stabbings, drug dealings here - the majority done by the young ones. They are committing the same crimes as in L.A., Chicago and Phoenix," Ewald said.

"We deal with gang members daily," he said. "They are in every neighborhood."

One of the downfalls of police ridding a neighborhood of gang activity is the gang members relocate somewhere else, spreading out and making it more difficult for police to find them.

"It used to be if East Side did a drive-by shooting in Okie Town, we would go to East Side territory and pull them over when they came back from the shooting," Ewald said.

Ewald said the gang with the largest membership in Yuma is West Side.

Robbie Rosas, an officer with the YPD Gang Unit, said, "There is a love triangle between Vegas, L.A. and here,"

Someone without a criminal record legally buys six or seven guns and sells them to gang members. The guns then end up as crime weapons in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, according to Ewald. He also mentioned that Yuma is a major drug route. However, it is becoming more profitable and less risky for gang members to carry illegal immigrants across the border than drugs, police said.

"It's all about money making," Ewald said. "Kids starting out don't believe that. They suck them in with, 'We're protecting our homeys, our community, our streets.' "

Aw, heck, these poor gang members, have just fell on hard times right? I say again, they should be considered as home grown terrorist and treated accordingly. Perhaps a few days spent with the juhadist might just wake them up!

When the Italian Mafia was in full force, no one said that these were young men who fell on hard times. We put them in jail and deported them when we could. Why is our government protecting hispanic gang members? Discrimination between criminals, what has america become?