Springdale : Panel: Early start prevents gangs
Posted on Saturday, September 2, 2006
SPRINGDALE - Arkansas State Police Capt. Les Braunns hadn't given much thought to a gang problem in Northwest Arkansas until police identified a gang member as a suspect in the fatal shooting of his brotherin-law.
"Our lives changed that day,"Braunns told a group of more than 75 law enforcement officials, politicians, students and media Friday at an anti-gang summit at Har-Ber High School in Springdale. "If you would have asked me before that day if we had people here who were affiliated with large gangs, I would have told you no."
Daniel Francis, 32, was killed May 6 in a road-rage incident on U. S. 71 B at Pleasant Grove Road in Lowell. Manuel Enrique Camacho-Ambriz, 25, was charged with being an accomplice to capital murder in connection with Francis' death.
Camacho-Ambriz, one of three people charged in the case, was identified by police as a member of Sureno-13 - an Hispanic gang that law enforcement officials say has been growing in Benton County.
Braunns, who commands Troop L in Springdale, was one of 12 state and federal officials who spoke at the anti-gang panel discussion sponsored by U. S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark.
"This has been an eye-opener for me,"Braunns said.
Panel members said community involvement and early intervention were the only ways to get a handle on gang problems.
They didn't talk about specific gang problems in Northwest Arkansas, but panel members said growth in the area makes it a likely target for gang activity.
U. S. Attorney Bob Balfe said his office has worked with law enforcement agencies in western Arkansas to identify the gang problem, but he said people must admit there is a problem before something can be done.
"If you talk to the chamber of commerce and the mayor, they'll say we don't have a gang problem,"Balfe said. "But if you talk to the police chief, he'll say that they do. The biggest issue we have is determining what the gang issue is.
"If we can agree on what a gang member is and what we're going to do about it, than we can form a communitywide response."
Rogers police Sgt. Kelley Cradduck, who was in the audience, said his department created a gang task force last year after an increase in Hispanic-on-Hispanic crime. Balfe asked him to stand up and tell the panel and the audience about the gang problem in Rogers.
"I can tell you that 98 percent of the gang problems we have in Rogers is Hispanic,"Cradduck said. "But that doesn't mean that 98 percent of the Hispanics are gang members."
The task force has helped reduce the numbers of violent crimes against Hispanics, he said.
"It has been a big success,"Cradduck said.
Luis Cardona, a former gang member who works with troubled youth in Takoma Park, Md., said a solution must be in place before you can really approach the problem.
Some solutions could come from gang members themselves, he said.
"Some of the approaches and solutions they talk about are incredible,"said Cardona, who has brought together former Hispanic and black gang members to talk about solving the gang issue.
Little Rock Detective Todd Hurd said he wished someone had hosted an anti-gang summit in central Arkansas in the early 1990 s. He said the gang problem there wasn't addressed until the national media picked up the story of two children who were killed in a drive-by shooting. "It was like the light turned on,"Hurd said. "We had this gang problem for two or three years, but we didn't do anything about it."Boozman said he hosted the event so people at all levels of government could start talking about the issue. "If we deny there is potential for problems, then we cannot take care of them before they start,"Boozman said.
To contact this reporter: sfitzgerald@arkansasonline. com
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