Tacoma Police officials are preparing to ramp up efforts at suppressing the growth of gang activity in Tacoma. Those efforts will include a family of new approaches, and will ask community organizations, city departments and city offices to help.



Police officials say they are dealing with an intolerable increase in gang-related crime — robberies, shootings, vandalism and drug trafficking are on the rise, and so is the number of kids being recruited into gangs. Police estimate that more than 1,800 kids and adults are actively involved in gang life or affiliated with one of many gangs operating within city limits. Five years ago, that number was 1,300. That means 100 new gang members in Tacoma each year. This new master plan will seek to increase efforts to keep kids out of gangs. That’s the prevention part — one leg of a three-legged stool that will support more aggressive efforts to stamp out gang activity in Tacoma for good.



Police won’t be doing this alone, they say. If they’re going to effectively tackle gangs and gang-related crime, they’re going to need help. Police officials are reaching out to Tacoma Public Schools, or into them, rather, by placing dedicated officers at all five of Tacoma’s high schools. For the past year, Lincoln and Mount Tahoma high schools have had officers on site during the school day. At the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, officers will be placed at Wilson, Stadium and Foss high schools. Dedicated officers at high schools allow for a little espionage. Officers planted among students can build rapport with kids who might have tips on gang member classmates, for example. Placing officers in schools puts them close to action, says Tacoma Police Department spokesman Mark Fulghum.



“The officer will know all the kids, be able to hear stories about what’s going on, and build rapport with the kids,” says Fulghum, “and hopefully keep kids who are on the fence out of gang life.”



That’s the hub of this renewed effort, say police officials — preventing crime by keeping kids from being invited into a criminal lifestyle. Police officials will unveil a revised plan for dealing with gangs in coming weeks. In the meantime, police officials have launched two new programs aimed at catching kids before they get in too deep.



The first effort — party patrols — is standard issue in many cities, including Puyallup.

Party patrols are dedicated teams that go on weekend missions to bust up parties where underage drinking is going on. It’s kind of like lions going to the watering hole, knowing there will be a higher concentration of prey. Maybe that’s a bad metaphor, but you get the idea. Tacoma officers have gone on two party-busting missions, and have made 55 arrests. Word to the wise: underage drinkers don’t get nearly the kinds of sentences as the people that get arrested for giving them the liquor. Another word to the wise: police plan to keep this heat on through the summer.



Police also are going after kids who stay out past Tacoma’s curfew. Yes, Tacoma has a curfew. Anyone under the age of 18 that ends up in a public place or establishment between 12:01 a.m. and 6 a.m. without a parent or guardian is subject to arrest. Exceptions are also made for kids on their way to work, heading to official school programs, or church. Everyone else gets taken home in a blue and white.



These efforts follow renewed efforts that began in 2006, when gang-related shootings spiked. One shooting outside the Brick City Project left one Tacoma teen dead, and another paralyzed. That renewed effort led to the establishment of a full-time gang unit, which brought together local law enforcement agencies to coordinate gang-busting efforts, and replaced a previous gang task force that had been disbanded after gang activity subsided.



This latest plan would ask the department’s Operations Bureau to focus on youth gangs, which means targeted enforcement of crimes such as vandalism and youth violence. The plan also would include a request for money to expand the department’s gang unit, presumably to hire more officers.



Look for more specifics when Police officials unveil their gang-fighting master plan to Tacoma City Council in the next few weeks.