By Gary Klien
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 05/24/2011 04:51:43 PM PDT
Despite a recent flurry of headlines about gang combat in Marin, a civil grand jury investigation turned up no statistics to prove there is a serious increase in gang crime.
"The jury found such information to be virtually nonexistent or spotty at best," the grand jury said in a report issued Monday. "The small amount of data that does exist can be interpreted to support any point of view.
"The best interpretation we could make by analyzing the nominal data available was that the increase in crime is 'probably' not significant."
The grand jury, an independent investigative body empowered by the local court, made the recommendation in its latest report: "Gangs of Marin: A Tale of Two Counties." The report was a follow-up to a similar study in 2008, when the grand jury concluded that "Marin's gangs are less violent and their numbers are growing more slowly than in other Bay Area communities."
The grand jury said it was prompted to revisit the subject after a rash of news stories about armed gang combat over the past six months. Some of the violence occurred in areas not associated with Marin's gang subculture, including a double-shooting at the Hamilton Marketplace in Novato and a fatal stabbing in San Rafael's Gerstle Park neighborhood.
Despite the ferocity of the attacks, however, the grand jury said Marin continues to be somewhat insulated from the gang problems plaguing other Bay Area counties. It credited Marin's vigilant and engaged citizens, the county's relative geographic isolation from more gang-prone areas and the proactive work of law enforcement agencies, probation officers, educators, municipal officials and community youth programs.
"They have seen and recognized the potential havoc gangs can wreak on our society (but mostly on our youth) and they are working diligently to keep Marin's proverbial 'finger in the dike' to keep local gang activity at a trickle in Marin rather than a torrent," the report said.
The grand jury especially credited the effect of nighttime gang sweeps, during which investigators conduct unannounced searches of gang members who have waived their Fourth Amendment rights as a condition of probation.
"In addition to specific violations, the sweeps provide valuable information to law officers and the probation department that they could never acquire in any other way," the grand jury said. "They also keep gang members more law abiding when they realize their probation can be terminated at any time for violating the conditions of their probation grant."
Novato police Chief Joseph Kreins said the grand jury report was thorough and balanced.
"Actually I think we've been pretty successful," he said. "I think the level of (interagency) cooperating is about as good as it's been in a long time."
The title of the grand jury report refers to the observation that there are two overlapping societies in Marin — upstanding citizens, and a small but insidious gang culture — whose worlds rarely come into contact. The former group is usually oblivious to the latter, but the cultures sometimes collide when gang violence spills out into the broader community, the grand jury said.
"This analogy of the two counties was a direct result of our discussions with gang members," the grand jury said. "They were the ones who postulated the presence of an alternate Marin. They took delight in the fact that they see us, but we tend not to see them.
"They were amused to call our attention to the fact that citizens of Marin who eat in restaurants, have their landscapes groomed, cars washed or repaired, or take local buses, have most assuredly rubbed shoulders with bona fide gang members."
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_18131001
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