Summary

At the Metropolitan King County Council’s Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee meeting today, the Council heard from the Prosecutor and police officials about emerging gang violence issues in King County.

Story

At the Metropolitan King County Council’s Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee meeting today, the Council heard from the Prosecutor and police officials about emerging gang violence issues in King County.

“We are sounding the alarm about the serious public safety threat posed by a new surge of gang violence in King County,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson, Chair of the Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee. “If we want to protect our kids and our communities, we must work collaboratively to stop the current gang warfare and provide better futures for our youth to prevent them from becoming involved in gang violence.”

“As part of the 2011 adopted budget, the Council established a $1.5 million criminal justice reserve to respond to emergent public safety needs, including allowing the County to be able to respond to emergency situations,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, Chair of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. “The recent uprising of gang violence in our suburban communities is a prime example of an unanticipated, increasing threat to public safety that the criminal justice reserve was established to address.”

"We need to address the immediate need for public safety and we need to do so as part of a broader strategy to keep our kids and communities safe,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “As law enforcement leaders told us today, our anti-gang approach must include prevention and intervention along with suppression."

Briefing the Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee were King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas, and Chief Deputy Steve Strachan and Detective Joe Gagliardi from the King County Sheriff’s Office. The importance of addressing the growing gang-violence problem became even more pressing last month when 13 people were injured during a gang-related shooting at a car show in Kent.

“The Kent car show shooting is the highest profile incident in a long-running gang war in south King County,” said Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg. “Police and prosecutors have launched an intense initiative to identify gang leaders who are responsible for shootings and other violent crimes.”

According to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, gang-related violence has increased over the past three years. In 2008 and 2009, King County averaged 29 gang-related homicides and 200 reported gang-related shootings.

To help address the growing concern of gang-related violence, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office funded two full-time deputy prosecuting attorneys dedicated to prosecuting gang violence-related crimes using federal grant money. The federal grant expired in June, however, and the Prosecutor’s Office has requested supplemental resources to maintain the dedicated prosecutors while it seeks additional federal funding.

“Partnerships are an important element to aggressively addressing the gang problem,” said Chief Deputy Steve Strachan. “Violence related to gangs is not acceptable and, in addition to suppression and enforcement, addressing gang-violence requires strategic intervention and prevention to address the problem.”

The Sheriff’s Office believes there are over 10,000 gang members in King County that are part of an estimated 140 active criminal street gangs. Although overall crime has trended downward in recent years, King County has seen a significant increase in crime related to gang activity, with gang related crime increasing 165 percent since 2005. Notably, in recent years, gang activity has shifted from within Seattle city limits to south King County.

Following the car show incident, the Kent Police Department convened a Gang Violence Intervention Summit attended by over 60 high ranking law-enforcement officials. The purpose of the meeting was to identify strategies to respond to the problems posed by organized street gangs and the impact of increasing gang-related violence in south King County.

“We have to tackle the gang problem from multiple angles to be effective, and need a mix of approaches that includes suppression, intervention, and prevention,” said Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas. “Gangs are a problem that affects every community, which is why regional cooperation and coordination is so important.”

Watch all Council proceedings held in chambers LIVE on King County TV on Comcast and Broadstripe Cable on channel 22, or online at:
www.kingcounty.gov/KCTV

Follow the Council’s deliberations through Twitter by signing up through the King County Council Web site at:
www.kingcounty.gov/council