"Our preference is for people to stop shooting -- not to put people in jail for the rest of their life." -- Mayor Landrieu
A new gang unit composed of local and federal law enforcement officials will?try to reduce the city's sky-high murder rate by deterring violent groups with the threat of long prison sentences, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said?Thursday. The approach,?called the Group Violence Reduction Strategy, was devised by criminologist David Kennedy and has proved successful in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Boston, Landrieu told a news conference.
Kennedy has said he believes New Orleans will be seeing fewer bodies on the ground within six months.
Whereas homicides in the past have typically been investigated as isolated incidents, prosecutors in the gang unit will?work alongside detectives?to develop evidence of?group ties and patterns of violence. The goal is to get indictments of entire groups?on charges such as conspiracy and racketeering, which carry hefty jail time, Landrieu said.
"We're sending a very clear message: The violence is going to stop or there are going to be consequences," he said.
New Orleans police have identified about 600 gang members in 39 groups who are believed to be responsible for a high percentage of the city's violent crime, Landrieu said.
The new strategy calls for law enforcement officials to?assemble gang members at periodic meetings, or "call-ins," in which officials will lay down two options.?The members will be?offered the chance to turn their lives around through free services such as GED classes and vocational training. But if even one member commits a crime, they will be told, the entire group will be prosecuted.
"We know who you are. We know who your friends are. We know where you go. We know everything about you," Landrieu recited after the city's first such meeting with 40 criminals on Oct. 25.
As an example of what the officials hope to accomplish, Landrieu pointed to the Oct. 19 federal indictment of 12 alleged associates of notorious criminal Telly Hankton on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
Joining Landrieu to voice their commitment to the new unit's mission Thursday were U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, Sheriff Marlin Gusman, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas and top officials from the State Police, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and state and federal probation and parole agencies.
"We're going to hold the people who commit the violent acts and murder in the city of New Orleans accountable," Landrieu said. "Gone are the days where we're not going to be coordinated or not talking to each other."
All of the agencies are paying for their own personnel who will work full-time in the unit, Landrieu said. The NOPD will be in charge of the unit and will contribute a sergeant and five detectives. Additionally, the unit will include two full-time assistant district attorneys, one full-time sheriff's ranking deputy, two assistant U.S. attorneys, two FBI agents, four ATF agents and one DEA agent.
The agents will be highly skilled in?intelligence and evidence-gathering techniques, Landrieu said.
The fact prosecutors will be able to subpoena witnesses and review evidence in real time will help "tremendously" in building strong long-term cases, Letten said.
When cases are investigated as a group, "everything changes," Serpas said.
The probation and parole officials will be instrumental in pressuring?gang members to stop the violence , Landrieu said.
The group strategy is a key component of Landrieu's "NOLA for Life" murder reduction campaign, which is based around five goals: stop the shooting, invest in prevention, promote jobs and opportunity, rebuild neighborhoods and improve the NOPD.
"Our preference is for people to stop shooting," Landrieu said, "not to put people in jail for the rest of their life."
Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/mayor_mitch_landrieu_unveils_n.html
allen iverson jr smith chris anderson rondo suspended bay bridge downton abbey season 3 presidents day
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.