Four myths that complicate efforts to confront gang violence

AS crime rates in our area generally decline, juvenile violent crime, related to gang violence, is increasing. The paradox between these two trends is a unique issue within what the media calls the "gang culture." It's difficult to get our collective minds around what appears as an irrational and destructive lifestyle. Looking at a few myths and solutions might help.

While most young people make good choices, our communities are seeing high-profile incidents related to ongoing dynamics involving rival Seattle-based groups. Easily accessible transportation makes these groups more mobile, affecting every community. I would like to offer a few myths about gangs and violence, and hopefully begin a conversation about what we can do.

Myth No. 1 — Gangs are a black thing. Gangs do exist in the African-American community, but also exist among Hispanics, East Africans, Pacific Islanders and among whites. Violence occurring in the recent spate of high-profile incidents has centered on African-American groups, but that is not indicative of the overall picture. Our tendency to draw conclusions from a few incidents ignores the huge numbers doing the right things.

Myth No. 2 — These shootings should make us avoid certain areas. A person who chooses to hang out and subsequently commit a violent act goes wherever groups of people go — malls, transit platforms, friend's houses, or anywhere else — as we all do. Incidents can happen anywhere, and have. It is an uncomfortable truth that nationally we have seen violence in malls, schools, parking lots, churches, private homes, parties, restaurants, office buildings, post offices. You get the point. Labeling an area as bad simply exacerbates the problem and further divides us. We should be aware in public places, not avoid them because of a high-profile incident.

Myth No. 3 — Kids are different now than they used to be. I am not being naive when I say that, by and large, teenagers right now are doing better than anytime in my memory. Most are working hard and are impressive young people. A small subset going off in a destructive direction, with an "eye for an eye" gun-driven culture, is driving collective opinions.

Myth No. 4 — We can enforce and incarcerate our way out of this. This is the most important myth to debunk. Regionally we can, and are, beefing up aggressive enforcement of the most hard-core gang members and putting them away.

In December, I joined King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, Seattle Chief Gil Kerlikowske and many others to announce new enforcement and interagency cooperation efforts aimed at better coordination. That will make a difference. We are actively going after the most chronic and dangerous offenders. However, to simply focus on enforcement without creating alternatives and support systems for the much larger numbers of kids on the periphery of gangs is the wrong direction.

While we wonder why some join gangs, we need to acknowledge that gangs offer a perception of short-term benefit: a sense of security to a kid who feels threatened, a sense of belonging to a kid who feels adrift, and a sense of risk to young people wanting to show their independence. The problem is, it's a dysfunctional choice that fosters violence and never ends well.

In Kent, we are working on additional enforcement through extra patrols in hot spots and coordinated efforts with other departments. We are a regional leader in working with federal and state agencies to develop and assess intelligence and in tracking the worst offenders. As Chief Kerlikowske said, gang members don't care about city boundaries, and neither should we.

We are working with community groups to create alternative activities and are providing ride-alongs for local pastors to get to know our officers and connect with kids contacted during patrol.

Gangs and gang-involved kids exist at some level in every community. Certain groups have decided to use violence and retribution, and their acts are affecting all of us.

Yes, it takes enforcement, but we also need the entire community to own the solution and for families, schools and churches to deal with it head-on. We can start in our own neighborhood, have frank discussions with our own kids, and encourage the Legislature, even in these difficult economic times, to focus on both enforcement and intervention.