Working Together, Police And Residents Of The Planeview Neighborhood See A
Dramatic Decrease In The Area's Gang Activity

ALLIES IN FIGHTING CRIME

For years, Lt. John Speer fought the silence of gangs. Speer, commander of
the gang unit for the Wichita Police Department, dealt with people who
looked the other way when gang violence struck their neighborhood. He had
seen witnesses to killings forget everything but their own name.

They became blind to the flash of gunfire, deaf to the slang of drug
dealings, and dumb to police questions about what had happened on the
streets outside their homes.

Then the people of Planeview stood up and spoke up. The residents in the
southeast Wichita neighborhood said they'd had enough. They welcomed Speer
and the officers of Patrol East onto the streets and into their homes.

"We had a lot of eyes and ears down here," Speer told a group of residents
at a meeting last month at Colvin Elementary School. "We want to make sure
that continues."

The people of Planeview have seen gang activity decrease by more than half
in less than six months. Previous work with the neighborhood won the
department a coveted international community policing award last year.

Police said the residents made a difference by stepping up, calling them
and pointing them in the right direction.

The residents, meanwhile, said increased police presence within their
neighborhood drove the gang members away. And it's keeping them away.

"It made a big difference down here," Speer told the neighbors.

The Dunham Trigger

Gunshots had become a common sound on Dunham Street near 31st South and
Hillside by May, when a 24-year-old man was gunned down.

It was after midnight near Dunham and Yale when two men in their 20s began
arguing over a woman. Richard de Lorea died of multiple gunshot wounds.

The killing brought an outcry from neighbors, who had heard the cracks of
pistols for years.

"We've got Mexican gangs, Asian gangs and black gangs," said Shirley Smith,
a longtime resident of Planeview. "And as the children grow up, they look
up to gang members."

Those who've made their homes on the southeastern edge of Wichita didn't
want to be driven out.

"We live here because we want to live here," said Gary Rikli.

The Wichita Police Department answered the calls for help with decisive action.

The department bolstered its staffing in the area tenfold. Over the next
few months, 45 people would work the Planeview area. Lt. Jeff Easter's
Patrol East officers would work 120 hours just on bicycle patrol. Six U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents chipped in on the efforts.

During the first three weeks of June, police made 17 arrests. Five people
were deported.

"We had some concerns from the Hispanic community about the immigration
issues," Easter said. "But we were targeting only known gang members."

Police said that some investigations led them to homes where they found
signs of illegal immigration. But because those households hadn't been
involved in gang activity, they were left alone.

To bolster relations, the Police Department hired Maria Anderson, a patrol
officer fluent in Spanish, to work Planeview full time.

As time wore on, police found less gang activity.

Between February and June, police responded to 33 crime calls with gang ties.

From mid-June through mid-October, those calls had dropped to 16. They
included 11 arrests.

"We had five drug cases from one arrest," said Officer Steve Jerrell, who
regularly patrols Planeview. "And when you have gangs, you have drugs."

In early November, gunfire again sparked uneasiness. But this time, it was
different.

A man who had been out of jail a few days was shot by rival gang members.

On Dunham.

Police knew it might happen.

"When he got out of jail, we just started looking for something," Easter
said. "We stepped up patrols. These guys have baggage left from before they
went to jail, and the baggage follows them."

This time, witnesses stepped up. They told police what they saw. They gave
a description of the vehicle.

That same afternoon, acting off those tips, police across town pulled over
a car near 25th North and Arkansas and arrested a suspect.

"I'm trusting you to keep calling us," Easter told the neighbors.

Taking Back The Streets

The gangs haven't left Planeview, but they're much quieter these days.

"I didn't have a high opinion of police before, but they've done a good job
here," Rikli said. "On the street where I live, the gangs have disappeared."

Other neighborhoods have had similar success, some with creative plans of
action.

On South Mosley near Pawnee, residents began reporting housing infractions
at rental houses where they kept seeing gang activity.

"If you solve that problem, you'll solve a lot of problems," said Jesse
Sheffield, a resident of the South Mosley neighborhood.

"We cleaned our neighborhood up. We'd just had enough."

In Planeview, police have noticed that the gangs have shifted their working
hours. Calls used to come in about suspicious activities during the late
afternoon and early evening. Now, most of the calls come in between 8 p.m.
and midnight.

"We're always going to have gangs in our communities -- that's a given,"
Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said. "But we can work together, build
on the small victories, build on the baby steps."

Gangs don't surrender because of police presence. Speer, who studies the
problem, knows gangs are a social phenomenon.

When he began fighting gangs in the early 1990s, middle-schoolers who felt
disengaged from their families would join the violent groups. By the end of
the 1990s, Speer read studies that showed gangs were recruiting members by
third grade.

But police haven't given up on swaying youth away from gangs. Officers will
continue to staff an annual summer camp for youth. For three years, the
camp has paired officers with Planeview teens, giving the teens alternative
activities to those offered by gangs.

The camp was a key factor in helping the department win a 2003 award from
the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Smith, the longtime Planeview resident, has another plan to help.

She saw her grade-school and middle-school-age boys beginning to dress like
the gang members in the Planeview neighborhood, with baggy pants and other
signature clothing.

"I spanked their butts," she said.

"If we stop it at home," she said, "it won't go out into the streets."
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Quiz

Do Gangs Show Their Colors Where YOU Live?

Add the points assigned to each question you answer "Yes."

1. Is there graffiti on or near your neighborhood or community? (5 points)

2. Is the graffiti crossed out? (10 points)

3. Do the young people in your area wear colors -- gang-associated jewelry
or clothing -- flash hand signs or display other behavior that may be gang
related? (10 points)

4. Are drugs available? (10 points)

5. Has there been a significant increase in the number of physical
confrontations within the past year? (5 points)

6. Is there an increasing presence of weapons? (5 points)

7. Do young people use pagers or cell phones? (10 points)

8. Has there been a drive-by shooting? (15 points)

9. Have you had a "show-by" display of weapons? (5 points)

10. Is the rate of school truancies or daytime burglaries increasing? (5
points)

11. Have racial incidents increased? (5 points)

12. Is there a history of gangs in your neighborhood? (10 points)

13. Is there an increasing presence of "informal social groups" bearing
names like "kings," "disciples," "queens," "posse" or "crew"? (15 points)

Scoring: 0-20 points = no problem. 25-45 points = emerging problem. 50-65
points = you have problems. 70 points or more = there are serious problems.
Police recommend development of a gang intervention and prevention program.

For more information, call your nearest police substation.