Attorney general touts Tri-City gang response

By Paula Horton, Herald staff writer

It takes a community to stand up against gangs and keep kids from getting sucked into the gang lifestyle, the state's top law enforcer said.

Prevention, intervention and stricter punishment are key to getting rid of the recent rise in gang violence in communities across the state, including the Tri-Cities, Attorney General Rob McKenna said.

"Everybody understands we have to respond to the gang problem the way we responded to meth," McKenna said, noting that Community Meth Action Teams were created to fight the epidemic.

"It worked ... and it's the same comprehensive approach we need to take to gangs," he said.

The Attorney General's Office is tracking gang violence around the state and McKenna talked to the Herald just days after hearing about Kennewick's latest gang-related shooting.

McKenna, who was in Kennewick on Friday, said he also spoke to Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg about the issue.

He hopes to get new legislation passed next year that will toughen up penalties for juveniles caught with guns, and if that state's budget recovers enough, he'd like to get some funding to help with prevention and intervention strategies.

In the meantime, communities need to get involved and work with law enforcement, schools, social service groups and other agencies, he said.

The Tri-Cities already is doing that by having city and county law enforcement agencies collaborating with FBI agents, the state Department of Corrections and Child Protective Services.

"There's no community that I'm aware of in Washington where law enforcement is doing a better job of coordinating its work," McKenna said. "Tri-Cities is really a model. They're hard at work and they know exactly what they need to do."

"They also know they need the community to be involved," he added.

Kids need to know at a young age that there are better things to do than get involved with gangs, he said.

Gangs do a good job of attracting them by offering them a pseudo surrogate family, so communities need to provide an alternative to keep kids safe and let them see there's something better available, McKenna said.

"We live in a culture that tends to romanticize the gangster lifestyle," he said. "...We've got to be better at prevention and intervention -- that means winning the battle for the hearts and minds of these young people."

A disturbing trend being seen across the state is also happening here in the Tri-Cities -- teen shooters.

In early June, three 14-year-old Pasco boys were arrested after a drive-by shooting at a 19-year-old's Kennewick home. In April, 16-year-old Christopher Ruesga was jailed after prosecutors accused the Pasco teen of fatally shooting a 38-year-old Pasco man during a confrontation. And the latest shooting at the Kamiakin Apartments involved victims who were 15 and 19.

McKenna said it's not a coincidence that teens are the triggermen in the drive-by shootings.

"Older gang members know very well that younger members, 14-, 15-, 16-year olds, are going to receive pretty light sentences" if they're caught, McKenna said. "Plus they're young and they're expendable. We're seeing it everywhere."

That's where the need for stiffer penalties comes in, he said.

In King County, a teen caught with a gun and convicted of second-degree felony possession of a handgun will typically spend 30 days in juvenile detention. It's a slap on the wrist and kids aren't get the message about the seriousness of the crime, he said.

"Then when they actually shoot somebody, they're tried as an adult and sent to the penitentiary. That's a big leap. There has to be a middle ground," McKenna said. "We have to prevent and intervene so we don't get to that point, but if we catch a 15-year-old with a 9 mm, we need to send a strong message."

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg plans to propose stricter punishment so it becomes a deterrent and McKenna said he's supporting that move.

"It's not because we have some mindless 'lock them up and throw away the key' mentality," McKenna said. "... But we're not going to wait for them to shoot somebody before we come down on them hard."

McKenna said he's committed to providing support to cities and counties and finding a solution to the gang problem.

"I'm trying to be a loud voice in Olympia," he said. "I'm speaking up on gangs."

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Sunday, Jun. 28, 2009

Attorney general touts Tri-City gang response

By Paula Horton, Herald staff writer