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The Denver Postdenverpost.comPosted: 12/23/2012 12:01:00 AM MST
An ambitious anti-gang-violence strategy unfolding in Denver is credited for drastically decreasing killings in other cities that have tried it. But it has also proved difficult to sustain, raising questions about how long Denver's budding program can survive.
Denver's Ceasefire is based on an approach cited for slashing Boston's homicides by nearly 70 percent in the mid-1990s. Community leaders, clergy and law enforcement officials gather known gang members in closed-door meetings, where they demand that the violence end and promise steep and swift punishment if it doesn't. Social-service providers then offer a path toward reform through job-placement programs, rehab and other counseling.
The nontraditional approach worked for a while in Boston. By 1999, four years after police started their program, the city saw just 31 homicides, down from a record 152 in 1990.
But by 2000, Boston's program began to unravel as police focused their attention elsewhere, key brass transferred to other departments and a group of black clergy members proved "surprisingly ill-prepared to deal with a new cycle of gang violence," according to a 2008 study by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. And by 2005, gang slayings in the city had reached a 10-year high.
"The sustainability is a challenge," said S. Gregory Baker, project director of the same initiative in Cincinnati that began in 2007, after the city recorded a record number of killings. That program, too, faced early skepticism from police officials and saw setbacks largely because of budget cuts. But Baker said the effort, credited for a 41 percent drop in gang-related homicides since it began, is back on track with renewed funding and a revamped organizational structure.
"You're bringing together naturally diverse teams of people who don't traditionally work together. Keeping them together as a unified team, focused on the same mission, that's a challenge in and of itself," he said.
The leaders of Denver's effort, including Police Chief Robert White, say they are committed to making the approach work in a city that has seen at least nine gang-related killings this year.
Gang violence has fallen slightly since 2010, according to Police Department data. There had been 208 gang-related or -motivated aggravated assaults as of the start of December, compared with 230 between January and November 2011.
Still, several troubling cases last summer, including the June 24 shooting of Denver police Officer Celena Hollis, allegedly by a member of the Park Hill Bloods, put a spotlight on the need for a holistic, Ceasefire effort, police officials said.
With the help of probation and parole officers, officials have already begun summoning certain gang members to "call-in sessions," where myriad law enforcement personnel, including federal and state prosecutors, tell them to stop shooting and warn them of the steep consequences their entire crew could face.
"A powerful message"
They also hear from grieving relatives of violence victims, ex-gangsters and an array of social-service providers who offer to help them with everything from handling child support to finding proper eyeglasses, as in one case.
"It's a powerful message,"said Chief Deputy District Attorney Tim Twining, head of the office's gang unit, which handles 200 to 300 cases annually. "We're not just here to make idle, empty threats. In fact, we don't want to see you anymore."
There are scores of street gangs large and small in Denver, but police wanted to target those behind some of the most recent activity. Call-ins so far have aimed to draw members of the Crips, Bloods and Gallant Knights Insane, a homegrown gang, with mixed results. Only a handful of offenders showed up for the first meeting. At least 15 came to a second.
A third meeting, closed to reporters, seemed more productive, drawing as many as 30 people, those who were present said. Those who were asked to attend have already been in the court system and were considered by police to be influential players who would be more likely to pass the message on to their associates.
Whether it sank in was up for debate.
One attendee told The Denver Post he thought the meetings were "a bunch of bull" meant to scare people into compliance and doubted police would be successful. Another, though, said he would impart the message to anyone he thought would be open to hearing it.
"If I see somebody I know, if I have some consideration for them, I tell them I don't gang-bang anymore," he said. "I would tell you to be careful. If they don't want to listen, that is their business."
The goal is for entire gangs to feel the increased heat and change, said Paul Callanan, project manager for the Gang Reduction Initiative of Denver, which provides logistical support for Ceasefire. The cost — in manpower and dollars — hasn't been tallied but will likely come out of a $2.2 million Department of Justice grant that funds GRID's strategies, which include targeted police responses. That grant runs out in 2014, but Callanan said he hopes Ceasefire can continue with existing resources.
Similar programs exist in many cities with varying levels of success. White said he patterned Denver's strategy off of one he implemented as police chief in Greensboro, N.C., where officials credit it for a 51 percent drop in violent crime since 2000.
But police officials in Oakland, Calif., struggled to maintain their Ceasefire, which fell apart after three or four years. The program lacked support of the community leaders who give it legitimacy and wasn't a true collaboration, Oakland police Lt. LeRonne Armstrong said. Realizing their mistakes, Oakland police jump-started the program again last summer.
"We just weren't doing it correctly," he said. "We tried to do it without a true investment in it."
Sadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman
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